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Belgian Players’ Average Annual Salary of €4M, the Highest of Any Nationalities Playing in Europe’s Top-5 Leagues

Belgian Players’ Average Annual Salary of €4M, the Highest of Any Nationalities Playing in Europe’s Top-5 Leagues
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Nellius Mukuhi
Nellius Mukuhi
 @ February 6th, 2023

Football clubs consider players’ wages as their single most significant expense. And it’s easy to understand a club or even an entire league by examining the salaries they offer. Discrepancies often arise depending on the player, especially when considering their nationality.

According to a new SportingPost.comdata presentation, Belgian footballers are the best-paid players in Europe. The site reports that the county’s footballers boast an average annual wage of €4.06M, the highest across Europe’s top five leagues. These figures are a testament to the remarkable success Belgium has enjoyed lately and the emergence of talented Belgian players in the world’s biggest leagues. 

So, What Explains the Belgians’ High Average Wages?

SportingPosts’ CEO, Freddie Smith, has shared his thoughts on the report. He asserts that this result is primarily due to the many Belgian players playing for Europe’s elite clubs. In total, there are 41 Belgians currently holding first-team positions at some of the most renowned teams across England, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany.

Belgium’s ‘Golden Generation’ consisting of world-class players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, and Axel’Witsel have stamped their mark on European football since their emergence from Belgium’s youth set-up. These footballers command higher wages than their counterparts from other nationalities and are central figures in their respective teams.

SportingPost CEO, Freddie Smith

Smith insists that a robust youth development system at home has been pivotal to the success of these stars. That system provides excellent training facilities and coaching for young players. Several clubs across Belgium operate academies that regularly produce some of Europe’s finest talent.

Top Earners by Nationality

After the Belgians, Brazilian footballers surpassed all other foreign contingents in earnings to take the second spot. With 94 of them plying their trade spread across the top-5 European leagues, the average Brazilian footballer earns an incredible €3.97M per year. Leading the way is none other than Neymar, undoubtedly one of Brazil’s greatest sporting exports.

Despite constituting only the fifth largest group (196 players), English footballers are right on the heels of the Belgians and Brazilians. They, on average, take home a neat €3.508M per annum, surpassing their Argentine counterparts who occupy fourth place, earning €300K less annually. And wrapping up the top five slots are the Portuguese, whose average annual earnings are €3.08M.

Additionally, French football players are among the sport’s lowest earners, with an average yearly pay of €1.8M. That may come as a shock given there are 375 Frenchmen in the big-5 leagues – the majority. But it’s not surprising when you consider that 253 of these play in Ligue 1, which offers a yearly average salary of €1.3M.

The figures indicate the sizable difference between what they can earn abroad and what they do while playing domestically.

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