Roma players and coach Paulo Fonseca have agreed to go without pay for the rest of the season to help the club's finances during the coronavirus pandemic, the Serie A club said Sunday.

The deal means the players, Fonseca and his coaching staff will give up their salaries for March, April, May and June, although Roma said that should the current campaign end up being completed "an incentive plan to be paid subject to the achievement of certain sporting objectives" had been agreed.

They had also agreed to "collectively pay the difference" to ensure that employees who have been placed on a partial unemployment scheme will receive their regular salary, the club added.

The club management will also give up a percentage of their earnings.

"We always talk about unity at Roma and in volunteering to cut their salaries for the rest of the season, the players, the coach, and his staff, have all proved that we really are in this together," said CEO Guido Fienga.

"(Captain) Edin Dzeko, all the players and Paulo have demonstrated they understand what this club stands for and we also thank them all for their superb gesture toward the employees at this club," he said.

Serie A has been suspended since March 9 and it is not known if or when the season will be able to re-start.

Players at Juventus, Parma and Cagliari have also agreed to wage reductions.

However, a Serie A recommendation that similar cuts be made at all top-flight clubs has been rejected by the players' union which argues that those at smaller clubs are less able to afford reductions.

Roma said that if the current season resumes and is completed, the players had agreed on an incentive-based plan to be paid "subject to the achievement of certain sporting objectives."

According to Roma, the players told Fiengo in a letter that they were ready to start playing as soon as possible but "we also realize that all this will not be enough to face the economic consequences of the current emergency."

"With the hope of doing something that will help the company to better restart the Roma project that we all share, we offer this financial proposal," they said.

Italy has suffered more than 23,000 coronavirus deaths, second only to the United States, and all organized sport has been suspended since March 9.