New Russia coach Fabio Capello wants to rein in the massive bonuses given to national team players, the acting president of the Russian FA said Monday.
The Russian team has garnered criticism for poor motivation in recent years, which was epitomized at Euro 2012, where Dick Advocaat's highly fancied team failed to qualify for the knockout stages despite reportedly pocketing among the biggest bonuses of the competition.
Capello, named Adovcaat's successor in July, has already made waves by axing national captain Andrei Arshavin from the squad for Russia's World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland on Friday and Israel next Tuesday.
Now the 66-year-old former England boss wants to clamp down on bonuses, maintaining they should only be paid out if a global aim is achieved, presumably such as qualification for a big tournament or reaching its latter stages.
"A distinguishing feature of Signor Capello's approach was that, asked about the bonus system and what it will be like, whether they will be paid for each win, he categorically said that bonuses should be given only for the final result. And this, I think, is absolutely right," Nikita Simonyan said Monday.
Capello started his Russia reign with a 1-1 friendly draw against the Ivory Coast in Moscow on August 15.
The World Cup qualifiers are his first competitive games in charge.
