Expect a breakthrough in sports compensation

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is collecting opinions and finalizing a draft Decree to replace Decree No. 152/2018/ND-CP of the Government regulating policies for sports team members participating in centralized training and competitions (draft Decree No. 152 amended).

If approved, this will be an unprecedented breakthrough in the policy of remuneration, bonus and medical care for coaches and athletes of Vietnamese sports.

From difficult situations to breakthrough changes

Currently, the regime for athletes and coaches is implemented according to three main documents. These three documents include Decree No. 152/2018/ND-CP; Decree No. 36/2019/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Physical Training and Sports; Circular No. 86/2020/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance detailing the special nutritional regime for high-performance sports coaches and high-performance athletes.

National team athletes will have more conditions to devote themselves wholeheartedly when the treatment regime changes in the coming time.

Accordingly, an athlete when joining the national team receives an average salary of about 7 million VND/month, and food allowance of 320,000 VND/day. These levels are applied equally, without distinction between athletes without achievements and SEA Games champions, ASIAD or Olympic medalists, leading to difficult issues regarding athletes' motivation.

Low income, short career, high risk make many young talents not interested in professional sports .

Fortunately, some localities, including Hanoi, have introduced support and treatment levels for athletes who are concentrated in the national team and the national youth team. In addition, there is a support policy for athletes who achieve international achievements according to the tournament cycle. Thanks to that, athletes in these localities also worry less about "food, clothing, rice, money". However, not all localities apply such a policy. And the policy for coaches and athletes in the national team is still a "bottleneck" in terms of treatment and attraction. This is even more noteworthy when the prices of many goods and costs in other areas increase.

Nutrition and healthcare are also “bottlenecks”. In particular, in the healthcare sector, there are no regulations on the treatment of medical staff serving the teams. This gap has forced many national teams to fend for themselves in taking care of the health of their athletes, especially when the team of doctors and medical staff in general at national sports training sites is too lacking compared to the needs of the teams. As a result, many athletes cannot fully develop their abilities and are always at risk of injury due to lack of timely and continuous medical care.

The draft revised Decree No. 152, which the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is seeking comments on this time, is considered a “breakthrough” in terms of remuneration for coaches and athletes, especially athletes. The salary of national team athletes will increase from 7 million to an average of 14 million VND/month; food allowance from 320,000 VND to 405,000 VND/day.

Medal bonuses have increased sharply: Olympic gold medals from 350 million VND to 3.5 billion VND; Asian Games gold medals from 140 million VND to 700 million VND; SEA Games gold medals from 45 million VND to 60 million VND. If a record is broken, athletes will receive an additional bonus equal to half of the gold medal prize in that tournament.

According to the draft, for the first time, there will be a monthly allowance regime that lasts for the tournament cycle for excellent athletes. In which, athletes who win Olympic gold medals will receive 40 million VND/month, ASIAD gold medalists will receive 20 million VND/month, and Olympic qualifiers or Paralympic medalists will receive 10 million VND/month.

Coaches also received a big pay increase. The national team head coach's salary increased from 505,000 VND/day to 1.01 million VND/day; the national youth team coach's salary increased from 270,000 VND/day to 540,000 VND/day.

Also in the draft revised Decree 152, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Sports sector have proposed a policy on remuneration for medical staff serving sports teams.

This is the first time that doctors and medical technicians have been specifically mentioned in a decree on policies and regimes for high-performance sports.

Accordingly, doctors who do not receive salaries from the State budget will be paid at a level equivalent to that of national team coaches at the corresponding level. Similarly, medical technicians will also receive salaries equivalent to that of athletes of the corresponding team...

Promising boost for Vietnamese sports

According to the leader of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, after 7 years of implementation, the old policies have revealed shortcomings: overlaps, gaps in insurance, post-retirement vocational training, medical care... In general, they have not met the requirements of raising the level of top sports. The new Decree will make comprehensive adjustments, create a solid legal corridor, ensure rights and improve the material and spiritual life of coaches and athletes.

And the spread of this will not stop at the national team level. Many localities and sectors have been applying preferential treatment for their coaches and athletes who have achieved international achievements and can also refer to it for supplementation.

Take the case of Hanoi sports for example. The Regulations on some special attraction and treatment regimes for athletes and coaches with high achievements in Hanoi, which will be applied from 2024, are considered a breakthrough for Hanoi sports, although there are many levels of support for athletes who win medals at tournaments. However, compared to the draft revised Decree No. 152, there is no section on rewards and treatment according to the tournament cycle for athletes who win Youth Olympic medals. Therefore, the proposal to have a treatment regime for athletes who win Youth Olympic medals is also reasonable.

As for the Head of the Petanque Department (Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center), Dang Xuan Vui, assessed that this is a strong step, which will create a breakthrough in the athlete selection work. "To have talented people, there must be reasonable treatment so that families can feel secure in letting their children pursue the profession. With the proposed spending level in the draft revised Decree No. 152, I believe that many families will let their children pursue elite sports more than they do now."

However, the above expenditure levels are still from the State budget. At the same time, it is still necessary to have the cooperation of Federations and Sports Associations to create sustainable resources and continue to accompany coaches and athletes. Because clearly, the remuneration for coaches and athletes can increase, but other conditions to reach the top, Olympic, ASIAD, SEA Games medals... still need more investment resources. In other words, although the bonus is very large, how to achieve the bonus and remuneration according to the tournament cycle as mentioned in the draft revised Decree No. 152 is another story.

The expectation placed on the new decree is not only the increase in bonuses and salaries, but also the change in thinking about investing in people - the core element of high-performance sports. When the remuneration regime is strong enough, along with a suitable socialization mechanism, Vietnamese sports will have a solid foundation to make a breakthrough, not only aiming for achievements at the SEA Games and ASIAD but also being able to continuously compete for medals at the Olympics - the biggest goal of the country's sports.

Urgency of Vietnamese sports

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the development of the revised Decree 152 is identified as an urgent task, aiming to synchronously, comprehensively and clearly adjust policies on salary, bonus, nutrition, insurance, post-retirement vocational training, medical care... for coaches, athletes and sports medical staff. (Minh Khue)

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Tieu-diem-van-hoa/ky-vong-vao-su-dot-pha-tu-che-do-dai-ngo-trong-the-thao-i777962/