Hi Teammates!
“How much money can I earn overseas?” I get asked this question quite often. It is not easy to say how much a player will earn. There are too many factors that play a role in how much players can expect to make and these factors can change from year to year. Timing, your skillset, what position you play, and of course what position teams are looking for are factors that will play a huge role in your contract offers. There are many more, however, and those factors can change from year to year. Just because you made a certain amount of money one season, does not mean you will make that much or more for your next season. There are so many players in the world and only a limited number of jobs. The competition is fierce these days.
If you are just coming out of college and you have an agent, you have better chances than someone just out of college with no agent. That is a fact. The days of players contacting teams directly without an agent and getting a job are over. If such an occurrence happens, then it will be for very low money and probably not the most professional team. A player without an agent can find a job overseas, but it will be incredibly difficult. If you do have an agent, how your agent sees your earning potential is one of the biggest factors for a rookie. Your agent of course wants to make money with you. If the agent thinks you have the potential to play on a high level, then he/she will pitch you to higher-level teams in countries that pay more money. One of the first things you should ask an agent before you decide to sign with them is, “What countries do you have the most connections with and what countries will you pitch my talent to?”
The picture accompanying this blog post will give you an idea of how many European teams pay, but of course, it is not an exact science. My friend Ron Howard was kind enough to put this list together. There will be players making more in some countries and some getting paid less. A First League team in Luxembourg for example may pay a certain player more than the player would receive in Sweden. This is just a guide that may help you realize how much players make per month in certain countries. You would have to imagine that most countries pay these contracts based on a 9-10 month contract. Please understand that many players lie about how much money they make for some reason, so if you meet someone who talks of making much more money than in this chart, it may or may not be true. I hope this will be helpful for you to understand how much money players make in Europe.
Thank you for taking the time to read my words!
Sean