RIYADH — The French coach of the Saudi national team Hervé Renard announced here Sunday that he will be taking a cut in his salary, to support health departments in the Kingdom, to combat novel coronavirus.

In a tweet, on his Twitter account, Renard wrote: “I have decided to take part in supporting health departments, in the country, through reducing my salary."

“I took such an initiative for the sake of backing up all efforts exerted to combat Coronavirus. Wish you good luck. Stay-at-home," he added.

The official account of the Saudi national team, commenting on the initiative, replied with a tweet that read: "Thank you our nice coach for the initiative to reduce your salary, against the backdrop of Coronavirus crisis.”

Renard took this decision following Saudi football clubs' agreement to reduce their players' salaries by 50 percent, due to the matches being halted because of COVID-19 for more than one month — since March 15, 2020. — SPA