The Reality Beyond the Title
When some people hear the title professional footballer they assume the person with that title is earning a lot of money in their chosen profession. This is far from the case for the vast majority of footballers across the globe according to an in depth FIFA Pro report produced in 2016. The report by FIFApro which is the World’s Player Union makes for fascinating reading and a copy can be downloaded FOR FREE at the bottom of this article. Published for the first time, the 2016 FIFPro Global Employment Report is the most comprehensive and far-reaching survey of its kind, analysing the labour conditions of professional players in the world’s most popular team sport.
Wages
Did you know that less than 2% of all professional footballers earn over half a million euro per year?. When the facts are given it is also accurate to report that over 45% of footballers throughout the World earn less than 821 euro per month. In Brazil for example of every professional registered player just over 83% earn less than 821 euro per month.
Let this Sink In
The FIFApro report shows that on average footballers average contract as a professional footballer is just over 22 months. Of the players who sign professional contracts straight out of club’s academies their average length of contract is just over 33 months. Globally 41% of all professional footballers have experience payment delays at some point in their career!.
Ruthless Industry
Did you know that 22% of footballers have experienced or are aware of cases where clubs have forced professionals into isolated training to make them feel unwelcome within their contract. 9% of footballer suffer some form of violence, 8% discrimination and 16% harassments at some stage in their career. On average 1 in every 11 footballers will be approached by some form of match fixing or illegal betting proposal.