THE SPORT SCAN – The salary of a professional player last season was 94,000 euros gross monthly but this increase is not representative of reality. Explanations.
Tuesday, the union of professional players and representatives of L1 and L2 clubs gathered around a table to negotiate a possible drop in wages to help French football get out of the economic slump in which it is plunged. . The meeting resulted in a declaration of intent from the UNFP which invites players to quickly discuss with their clubs to consider the modalities of reducing their remuneration in order to save professional football strongly affected by this crisis and to ensure that the 2020/2021 season is coming to an end. “
Privileged, Ligue 1 players received an average of 94,000 euros monthly gross last season, which corresponds to 73,320 euros net. An estimate revealed by The team and France Blue last February. Be careful, however, because this data masks very strong inequalities among the elite of 20 clubs and is not necessarily representative of the average emoluments of a player. This amount is inflated with the very comfortable salaries of Paris SG players in particular.
PSG salaries skew average data
In 2018-2019, on its own, the capital club represented more than a quarter of the remuneration in charge of Ligue 1, equivalent to 780 million euros (up 9% compared to the previous season) , or as many as 13 clubs with the lowest payrolls! Neymar receives for example 3.06 million euros gross monthly and Mbappé 1.91 million euros for example, which contributes to pulling the average salary significantly upwards.
READ ALSO – The PSG locker room was not surveyed for a drop in wages
To get a better idea of the average salary of a professional player in the Ligue 1 championship, it is better to rely on the median salary. More representative, it remains very comfortable, but drops to 35,000 euros gross (27,300 net). This means that half of Ligue 1 players hit more and the other half are below. To these amounts can be added match bonuses and objectives included in the contract. In Ligue 2, the fall in the numbers is notable with an average salary of 11,000 euros gross (8,580 net) and a median salary of 8,500 euros gross (6,630 net).
The ten biggest salaries in Ligue 1 in 2019-2020 (gross salary)
Neymar: € 3.06m
Kylian Mbappé: € 1.91 million
Thiago Silva: € 1.5 million
Edinson Cavani: € 1.34m
Marquinhos and Marco Verratti: € 1.2 million
Angel Di Maria: € 1.1 million
Keylor Navas: € 1 million
Mauro Icardi: € 800,000
Leandro Paredes: 750,000 €
Presnel Kimpembe: € 670,000
