Skip to content
Home » How Footballers Get Paid

How Footballers Get Paid

Footballers are amongst the highest paid professionals on the planet. Whether you agree that this is justified or not, there is no denying that football is a lucrative business. With that being said, it’s worth asking; how do footballers get paid?

In summary, footballers earn their money through several different sources. Those sources include but are not limited to the clubs that they play for, performance bonuses, sponsorships and media products.

Where do footballers get their money from?

Club contracts

When a player signs on to play for a club, much like most jobs, they enter into a contractual agreement. The money that is made from this agreement is likely the primary form of income for most players. This is essentially a football player’s salary.

Of course, the more valuable a player is, the more a club may be willing to pay them to secure their services. This simply comes down to how highly the club values the player.

For example, in 2014, Manchester United were paying Wayne Rooney £300,000 a week, while Nick Powell was earning £10,000 a week at the same club. Not sure how Powell could afford rent, to be honest.

Wayne Rooney playing for Manchester United. He was paid very handsomely to play for them.
Wayne Rooney playing for Manchester United. Photo by Ian C

Most football clubs make the salaries of their staff as well as their internal income reports public. As a result of this, the public are aware of the vast sums of money that players are paid. Naturally, many feel as though football players are overpaid, based on those figures.

However, club salaries are the only form of income that footballers have to disclose to the public. Football players make money from several different sources.

Bonuses and prize money

Players can sometimes have bonus clauses written into their contracts which reward them for scoring goals or making assists. These bonuses are paid in addition to their base salary.

Depending on the contract, players can receive bonuses for several different reasons. These reasons include, but are not limited to:

Loyalty

Players may receive loyalty bonuses for staying at a club for a certain number of years

Individual awards

A player may have a clause in their contract that entitles them to a bonus if they win an individual trophy such as the golden boot or the balon d’or.

Clean sheets

Defenders and Goalkeepers may be entitled to a bonus for every clean sheet that they have. A clean sheet is when a team does not concede a goal in a game- for anyone asking.

Set pieces

Similar to a goal bonus, players in a team may be eligible for a bonus if a goal is scored from a set piece. The reasoning for this being that goals scored this way are about more than just the goal scorer. they include dummy runners and additional contributions by other players too.

Good behavior

This one is a little different to the others. Based on their history, some players are even able to negotiate bonuses for behaving well.

For example, when Mario Balotelli signed for Liverpool, a clause was put in his contract which entitled him to £1 million if he received less than 3 red cards in a match.

Prize money

Almost all major competition includes prize money for teams that finish in the top positions. When clubs win these competitions, players may be entitled to receive a portion of the prize money.

Sponsorships

Modern footballers are more than just athletes; they are celebrities too. As such, they can influence public opinion and have a platform that allows them to be heard when they speak.

Brands and big corporations have noticed this and have taken full advantage of it.

Brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma are the largest players in the football sponsorship game. These brands sponsor clubs as well as individual players.

Most players receive free apparel, such as boots, and an endorsement fee from these companies. The idea being that when they play, the mere fact that players are wearing a certain brand of boots is an advertisement.

Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Portugal. He has benefitted from sponsorships more than any other football player.
Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Portugal. Photo by Ludovic Péron

However, some sponsorship deals are more comprehensive than others. For example, in 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly signed a lifetime contract with Nike that is worth an estimated £770 million.

He’s in good company too; Michael Jordan and Lebron James are the only other athletes to have signed lifetime deals with Nike.

In addition to the apparel sponsorships, players are able to monetize through paid sponsorships on social media platforms.  It’s been reported that in sponsored Instagram posts alone, Cristiano Ronaldo made £41.7 million in 2020.

However, players such as Cristiano Ronaldo are the exception and not the rule. It would be unfair to use them as a basis for the types of sponsorships that most athletes get.

Merchandise Sales

While sponsorships are incredibly lucrative, players are simply advertising products that belong to other brands. Some players have taken it upon themselves to create their own personal brands and monetize through that.

Clothing brands such as JLingz (Jessie Lingard), Balr (Eljero Elia, Gregory van der Wiel and Demy de Zeeuw) and CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) have gained much attention in recent years.

Media products

Similar to selling products through their star power, players have been known to earn money through various forms of physical and digital media. These media forms include, but are not limited to Autobiographies, documentaries, movies or limited tv series.

Players usually release books after they have retired. However some have released autobiographies relating to their playing careers while they are still playing the game. This approach is likely to only be profitable if the player is well known and successful.

Zlatan Ibrahimović. He has made a large amount of money by building his brand and selling digital products.
Zlatan Ibrahimović. Photo by Doha Stadium Plus Qatar

For example, players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Peter Schmeichel and Cristiano Ronaldo have all released autobiographies while their careers were active. In addition, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, to name a few, have both had documentaries filmed based on their careers.

Where do football clubs get the money to pay their players?

Modern football clubs are essentially money-making machines. As a result of the vast amounts of money in the game, clubs can pay their players handsome fees.

Clubs earn an income through several sources, such as TV broadcasting rights, matchday sales and much more.

To read more about how football clubs generate their vast income, check out this article.

How often do footballers get paid?

Depending on the contract details, clubs will typically pay players on a weekly or a monthly basis. Being paid per week seems to be the norm. Any bonuses that they have within their contracts will usually be paid when their salary is paid.

However, prize money and other sources of income, such as sponsorships, can be paid at any given time.

Do footballers get paid in their time off?

If a player is a full-time employee at a club, they will most certainly be paid during their time off. At the end of the day, players are still workers and fall under the labour laws of the countries that they work in. They are entitled to paid leave.

Do footballers get paid when they are injured?

Do football players get paid when they are injured?

Football clubs usually insure all of their players in the event of an injury. It only makes sense, seeing as players are as much an asset as they are members of a football club. This insurance helps in covering the salaries of players when they are side-lined due to injury.

However, the amount of money that a player is paid during an injury depends on the player’s contract, the club’s insurance policy and the regulations of the league they play in.

Some general regulations for the top English, Spanish and German leagues can be seen below.

English Premier league

In the EPL, players will receive their full salary for up to 18 months in the event of an injury sustained while playing for the club.

If the injury lasts for longer than that, the players will then receive 50% of their salary thereafter. How the player’s payment is arranged from then on is case specific.

If the injury is sustained when playing for their country, or outside of club duties, the player may be entitled to receive their salary for up to 12 months. From then on, they will receive 50% of their salary until they are recovered.

La Liga

Like in England, La Liga players may receive 18 months’ worth of their salary when injuries are sustained during club duty.

However, if a player receives a non-football related injury, the club is within their right terminate the players contract. This would be dealt with on a case by case scenario.

Bundesliga

In Germany, players are only entitled to their salaries for one and a half months after sustaining an injury. This is quite a short period; thus players often seek additional personal insurance.

To further justify the need for additional insurance, when a player suffers a major long-term injury in Germany, clubs have been known to terminate their contracts with immediate effect.

What do footballers do with their money?

In the past, football players have been known to spend their money irresponsibly. Can you blame them, though? How would you spend your money if you were a millionaire in your 20s?

George Best once famously said “I spent 90% of my money on women, drinks and fast cars. The rest I wasted.” If that doesn’t paint a picture, I don’t know what does.

However, with more financial education and fiscal awareness around, most top level players maintain good financial practices. This is helped by the fact that many young players hire financial advisors to help manage their books.

As previously mentioned, footballers can be more celebrities than football players nowadays. As such, it is important that they maintain a decent image in the public eye.

Something that certainly affects how they are viewed in the public eye is how they spend their money. As a result of this, even if players were making outlandish and irresponsible purchases, we as the public may never be wise to it.

Do footballers get paid too much?

Do football players get paid too much?

It may be helpful to view this question as directed more towards society than towards footballers. The vast amounts of money in the footballing industry are a direct result of capitalism. Whether you agree with capitalist ideologies are not is an argument for another day.

On that note, like all professions, football players are paid the value that we bestow upon them. What this means is that they earn the amount that they do because we are willing to pay them.

Although It is easy to look at the income sources stated above and scoff at the massive numbers that some players are pulling, you need to ask yourself; where is the money really coming from? The answer is you.

I personally pay to stream football matches when they are on, I’ve invested in several football shirts and boots and I’ve bought tickets to attend several football matches.

I do this because football is a game that brings me joy and lets me get behind teams that I believe in. In addition, I know for a fact that there are millions, if not billions, of others that willingly do the same.