The Average Salaries of Football Players: How Much Do Footballers Make?

Professional football players compete worldwide in this highly skilled sport in some of the best teams. These teams have huge fanbases and are watched by the vast majority of the world’s population. With teams taking part in huge international football league competitions like the Champions League, it’s normal to expect that players have billion-dollar salaries.

Some of the wealthiest football teams, which have players such as Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, and Neymar, can afford to pay weekly and monthly wages of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and these players also bring in millions of dollars via sponsorships and salaries. There are actually a lot of football players in the world which are billionaires!

Let’s look at the numbers to discover how much money the highest-earning players make! You can also check our list with the best football betting sites!

Interesting Facts about The Average Wages of Footballers

• Premier League players in England make between £3 and £5 million a year on average in terms of salaries alone.
• Around £3.9 million is earned annually by English football players at clubs like Manchester United and Manchester City.
• The highest-paid football player is Cristiano Ronaldo, who makes around £200 million a year.
• The average salary for a football player in the US is $386,000 annually.
• At $928,477 per year on average, Toronto FC is the highest paid football team in the United States.
• The maximum endorsement income for Ronaldo is around £45 million.
• The highest-paid endorsement contract is Neymar’s £23 million yearly deal with Puma.

How Much Do Professional Football Players Make?

Salaries, incentives, bonuses, sign-on bonuses, and sponsorship deals are the most common ways that professional football players make money. The average football player makes between £2,000 and £80,000 per week in terms of salary.

Across the ocean from us in the US, the average annual player salary for MLS players is around $312,000. The annual salary of USL players is around $43,000. 

Age, skill level, club level, and national average pay scale are some of the factors that determine how much they make. In this section, we’ll go over some of the highest-paid athletes in the world and their income in detail. 

Statistics on Football Player Salaries Per League

Every football league has its own pay scale, playing style, and level of play which is expected from their players. These leagues are mostly made for each nation, however depending on a player’s skill level, they are accessible to players worldwide.

The pay for football players varies greatly. Some players in the top clubs and divisions around the world can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a week, which can easily make them billionaires, but this is largely dependent on the league and club they play for. Others may only make a few thousand, or a few hundred in the worst-case scenarios.

Here is the breakdown of earnings of professional football players by league.

The English Premier League Wages

In the Premier League, the world’s most competitive and watched football league in the world, some of the best players across the world make between £3 and £5 million a year on average. Among the highest-paying clubs are the ones that compete across the European leagues. The main European football leagues and their average salaries include:

• English Premier League: £3-£5 million
• Spanish La Liga: £3-£5 million
• Italian Serie A: £1-£3 million
• German Bundesliga: £1-£3 million
• French Ligue 1: £500k-£2 million
• Major League Soccer (MLS): $345,000

EPL Wage Bills for 2023

Based on data from Capology, we have ranked every Premier League team for 2023–2024 according to their yearly pay budget.

1. Manchester United – £206,796,000
2.  Manchester City – £200,668,000
3. Arsenal – £166,036,000
4. Chelsea – £155,234,000
5. Liverpool – £136,240,000
6. Aston Villa – £117,000,000
7. Tottenham – £112,840,000
8. West Ham – £94,016,000
9. Newcastle United – £84,500,000
10.  Everton – £78,978,000
11. Nottingham Forest – £71,010,000
12.  Crystal Palace – £69,050,000
13.  Fulham – £64,610,000
14.  Brighton – £61,100,000
15.  Bournemouth – £53,794,000
16. Wolves – £51,740,000
17. Brentford – £39,936,000
18. Burnley – £38,506,000
19. Sheffield United – £28,756,000
20. Luton Town – £24,570,000

The Average Football Wage Bill of the Italian Seria A

Of the Big 5 Leagues, Italian Serie A saw the most percentage revenue rise. A 23% rise from the previous year, the 48% increase in broadcast revenue led to an aggregate income of €2.3 billion. The Bundesliga was the only league to record a 6% drop in revenue to €3 billion.  With a combined income of €15.6 billion, up 3% from the previous year, the Big Five leagues control 57% of the European football market.

Other leagues reported an increase in revenue:

• Premier League – grew by 8% to €5.5bn
• Spain’s La Liga  – grew by 6% to €2.9bn
• Ligue 1 – grew by 1% to €1.6bn

Serie A Wage Bills for 2023

The 20 Serie A teams’ salary bills were analysed by our experts, and it was found that Juventus, Inter, and Roma were the biggest spenders—across €210 million in total. The huge disparities between the teams at the top and bottom of the league table were revealed when we examined the salary expenditures of every team competing in the Italian premier division this season.

1. Juventus -€74.1m
2. Inter – €71.7m
3. Roma – €68.6m
4. Milan – €60.2m
5. Lazio – €44.7m
6. Napoli – €44.4m
7. Fiorentina – €37.5m
8. Atalanta – €29.3m
9. Torino – €24.7m
10. Genoa – €21.9m
11. Sassuolo – €20.9m
12. Udinese – €19.6m
13. Bologna – €19.3m
14. Cagliari – €19.2m
15. Salernitana – €18.4m
16. Monza – €18.1m
17. Empoli – €16.8m
18. Hellas Verona – €15.4m
19. Frosinone – €11.5m
20. Lecce – €9.8m

US’ Major League Soccer (MLS)

At almost $1.1 million annually, Toronto FC held the record for the highest average player pay in Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2023. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Orlando City SC’s average player made just over $321,000 annually. 

MLS Wage Bills for 2023

The highest payroll of any Major League Soccer (MLS) team in 2023 was that of Inter Miami, which came to almost $39.42 million. A total of $9.64 million was paid to the New York Red Bulls during that same year. 

1. Inter Miami – $39.42m
2. Toronto FC- $31.67m
3. LA Galaxy – $25.04m
4. Chicago Fire – $20.42m
5. Los Angeles FC – $19.48m
6. San Jose Earthquakes – $19.19m
7. Atlanta United – $19.04m
8. Houston Dynamo – $17.46m
9. D.C United – $17.3m
10. Nashville SC – $17.01m
11. Montreal Impact – $16.99m
12. Philadephia Union – $16.22m
13. Columbus Crew S.C – $15.31m
14. New England Revolution – $14.97m
15. FC Dallas – $14.71m
16. Seattle Sounders F.C – $14.64m
17. Real Salt Lake – $14.6m
18. Minnesota United FC – $14.57m
19. Colorado Rapids – $14.5m
20. FC Cincinnatti – $14.35m
21. Portland Timbers – $14.29m
22. Charlotte FC – $13.89m
23. Vancouver Whitecaps FC – $13.63m
24. Orlando City SC – $13.42m
25. New York City FC – $11.5m
26. Sporting Kansas City – $11.19m
27. Austin FC – $10.92m
28. New York Red Bulls – $9.64m

How Much Do Footballers Earn in Each Country?

Around the world, the average weekly wages, or even annual ones, vary greatly. The rankings don’t reflect the caliber of the teams or the level of popularity of football in that nation or area. In South America, football is quite popular. Some of the top players in the world today have come from this continent. Players in South America do, however, make less money than the average wage of a Premier League footballer, for example. 

The world’s highest-paying nations and teams are listed in the section that follows.

At £3,935,117, English clubs offer Premier League footballers the highest average yearly income

England’s top division, the Premier League, pays its stars an average of £4 million a year. Others, particularly those in lower divisions, such as the second tier, make vastly less money. European clubs offer the highest salaries to two players in football of the highest level, like Kevin De Bruyne and David de Gea, with England topping the list, as can be seen below: 

1. England – £3,935,117
2. Spain – £2,896,151
3. Italy – £1,999,865
4. Germany – £1,837,613
5. France – £1,302,347
6. Russia – £877, 071

In China, football players get an average salary of £1,051,603

Since football isn’t as popular in Asia as it is in Europe, professional footballers in Asia make a lot less money, compared to the championship wages and huge sums of money European clubs shell out. The average salary of football players in Asia differs completely from western countries, however, it is trending upward, despite the recent exodus of football stars to Asian Leagues, according to research.  China is the Asian nation with the highest average salary for soccer players, followed by:

• Japan – $30,088.60
• Korea – $28,432.36 
• Saudi Arabia – $25,421.53

The highest-paid Asian football player is Korea’s Son Heung Min

With a weekly salary of £192,000. Son Heung Min is a player for Tottenham Hotspurs. The fact that he plays for one of the best football clubs in the world and is given the biggest salary of any soccer player in Asia is not unexpected. 

How Much Do the Highest Paid Footballers Make in Terms of Endorsements?

One of the biggest revenue streams for soccer players is endorsements and sponsorships. Sportswear, cars, technology, lifestyle, consumer, and financial companies are among the most profitable goods that football players promote and get paid to do so.

Footballers are undoubtedly chosen by brands as their brand endorsers due to their large fan base. Luxury businesses like Nike, Louis Vuitton, TAG, and others use Cristiano Ronaldo as the face of their company. A whopping $45 million in contracts, or about 20% of his overall income, are earned by him through sponsorships.

Neymar obtained the most important and expensive single endorsement with Puma, ahead of Messi and Ronaldo. Through this arrangement, he is making £23 million per year.

A Final Word on How Much Footballers Make

Each football player’s income varies depending on several criteria, including their club, position, tenure, influence, performance, and tenure. The highest-paid FCs are Europeans. The football market is beginning to take notice in Asia. Asia’s football business is making more money as more and more Asians become interested in soccer. NFL players train all their lives, much like other athletes, but compared to the average, their salary could be extravagant. But the rewards they receive are based on the costs they bear. 

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