Trainer Fabio Capello received $35 million in compensation for stepping down as head coach of the Russian football team earlier this month — a much higher sum than he was previously rumored to have received, the LifeNews tabloid reported.
Earlier reports suggested Capello had received about $16.4 million after he agree to part ways with the Russian Football Union (RFU) last Tuesday after three years in charge of the national team.
But that figure has now been placed at 32 million euros ($35 million), possibly including a 10 million euro payoff from a commercial deal signed outside of the RFU structure, LifeNews cited an unidentified senior official as saying Wednesday.
Capello has in turn agreed not to discuss his contract, the reasons for his departure, nor to comment on internal problems at the Russian Football Union with the media, the report said.
The Italian trainer — whose contract was worth 7 million euros ($7.7 million), according to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper — went unpaid for months after the RFU struggled to pay his salary following the collapse of the ruble last year.
The salary dispute was only resolved when Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov earlier this year loaned 400 million (then $7.41 million) on favorable terms to the RFU before giving the union a further 300 million rubles in June.
It remains unclear who fronted the cash for Capello's compensation package. The RFU's debts currently run to 1.5 billion rubles ($26 million), Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency last week.
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