Football players´ salaries: Slovaks lags behind

According to the analysis, a player in our top league earns on average 32,000 euros per year. That is twice less than in the Czech Republic and three times less than in Poland.

Footballers’ salaries: Slovaks lag behind
Most footballers leave the Slovak top league due to better financial conditions. The majority go to neighboring Czech Republic and Poland, partly because of the short distance and the absence of a language barrier. Until now, there was only speculation about what salaries they could expect in nearby countries. For the first time, such a comparison has been provided by the Global Sport Salaries Survey from the company Sporting Intelligence, which annually publishes players’ earnings in various sports and clubs. Its results show that footballers in Slovakia earn an average of 32,000 euros per year, which is twice less than in the Czech Republic (61,000 euros) and three times lower than the income players get in Poland. “In each of these countries there are two or three clubs that are significantly above average in terms of salaries. Here, Slovan is the unique case,” said Jozef Tokos, sports analyst and football agent, for the Economic Daily.

At the bottom among V4 countries
Interestingly, among all European countries in terms of earnings, our Fortuna Liga ranked 29th. Players in Serbia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Cyprus earn more. According to the analysis, Hungary is also far ahead of Slovakia in salary conditions, where footballers receive 80,000 euros per year. “For example, in our southern neighbors’ league, even a newly promoted team can offer a player a salary of four to five thousand euros a month, which is practically impossible here,” Tokos noted. According to him, these figures clearly show why even average clubs from neighboring countries are a big lure for players whose contracts are ending. “And we are talking only about V4 countries. In the top five European leagues, salaries are many times higher, but it’s enough to look at Austria, Turkey, or Russia,” the analyst said. In Turkey’s Süper Lig, footballers earn on average 742,000 euros per year, which is 20 times more than in Slovakia. Currently, Slovak national team members Martin Škrtel and Juraj Kucka are playing in the country of the crescent.

Growth of our league is not enough
Whether there is a chance in the future for Slovak clubs to get closer to the salary levels of competing leagues in the Czech Republic or Hungary was something we asked the executive director of the League Clubs Union. “Our Fortuna Liga has shown a growing trend in various indicators for several years – for example, in television viewership figures. Together with the clubs, we will continue to work on increasing the popularity of our top competition,” said Michal Mertinyák. However, he added that given the size of the market, it is almost impossible to match the salary levels in countries such as the Czech Republic or Hungary in the future. “We can work to at least get closer to their conditions in the coming years,” said the executive director of the League Clubs Union. Among the V4 countries, Slovakia is clearly the smallest in terms of population – meaning potential football fans. The Czech Republic and Hungary have twice as many inhabitants, while Poland has seven times more.

Barcelona pays the most
Number one in the ranking of the highest salaries according to the Global Sport Salaries Survey for 2018 is the football club FC Barcelona, which pays its players an average of 12.1 million euros per year – 2.7 million more than second-placed Real Madrid. Behind the pair of Spanish giants are six teams from the NBA basketball league. The top ten most generous sports employers are rounded out by football clubs Juventus Turin (7.8 million euros) and Manchester United (7.6 million euros). “I was surprised by Atlético Madrid’s high placement. In recent years, elite players were leaving it for better conditions elsewhere, yet now it ranks among the clubs with the highest average salaries,” Tokos assessed. Atlético Madrid made the biggest year-on-year jump in the ranking, moving from 52nd place last year to 17th. Among football teams, however, it holds sixth place.