Talking Footy

AFL trumped by soccer in football code pay stakes

SOCCER has thundered past Australian Rules as the nation’s most lucrative football code.

A Herald Sun investigation has revealed 23 Australian soccer players based in the A-league or overseas earn more than the AFL’s highest-paid stars Lance Franklin, Gary Ablett and Tom Boyd.

It comes as AFL players are locked in a bitter pay dispute with league chiefs over a ­demand for a fixed percentage of the game’s rising revenues.

The AFL’s $1 million men are Franklin, Ablett, Boyd, Nic Naitanui and Scott Pendlebury.

Superstars Patrick ­Dangerfield ($800,000), Nat Fyfe ($900,000), Joel Selwood ($850,000) and Alex Rance ($800,000) all fell short of the $1 million mark in 2016.

But Australian soccer’s top dogs earns five times more cash — China-based defenders Trent Sainsbury, 24, and Matthew Spiranovic, 28, both earn more than $5 million a year.


Sydney superstar is earning $1 million-plus a year, but that is nothing compared to what some Australian soccer players are collecting. Picture: David Caird

Melbourne City’s Tim ­Cahill will collect $4.7 million in his debut A-League season, former City star Aaron Mooy pockets $3.5 million a year on loan to Huddersfield Town in the English second tier from Manchester City.

Other big round-ball ­earn­ers were Socceroos ­captain Mile Jedinak ($3.2 million, Aston Villa), Matthew Spiranovic ($2.5 million, ­Hangzhou Greentown) and Mat Ryan ($2.4 million, Valencia).

Former Manchester United and Chelsea star Mark Bosnich, who was earning almost $8 million a year in his prime, said soccer would always dominate.

“No disrespect to AFL, but they’re catering to a small domestic market, football is part of a world market,” he said.

“But AFL players should be getting a bigger slice of the pie. They get less than their soccer counterparts and there needs to be a realisation that people come to watch the players and not the guys upstairs.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan made $1.7 million in 2015, while A-League boss David Gallop was on $1.4m.

While the AFL has nine players on $800,000 to $950,000, another 12 to 15 Australian soccer players earn between $800,000 and $1.1 million.

The AFL has 850 players at an average of $300,000.

More than 160 Australian players are now playing in Europe and Asia, while there are 260 on A-League lists.

The A-League average wage is $180,000, a $145,000 rise from the last season of the NSL 12 years ago.

The advent of the A-League, the emergence of the lucrative Chinese market and the much-improved Socceroos pay conditions — players average $100,000 a year representing Australia and as much as $200,000 in a World Cup year — has seen soccer wages surge past AFL.

A-League stars will also strike an improved pay deal, with the FFA renegotiating the $40m-a-year TV contract, which expires in May.

The most common pay band for AFL stars is $100,000 to $200,000, which included 188 players in 2015, while 153 earned between $200,000 to $300,000.

Nobody earned more than $1m a year when the contract was averaged out.

The most recent AFL figures showed two players earned $1.2m in 2015, with some contracts being heavily back-ended or front-ended.

TOP AFL EARNERS 2016

Lance Franklin $1 million+

Tom Boyd $1 million+

Gary Ablett $1 million

Nic Naitanui $1 million

Scott Pendlebury $1 million

Jeremy Cameron $950,000

Nat Fyfe $900,000

Joel Selwood $850,000

Kurt Tippett $850,000

Patrick Dangerfield $800,000

Alex Rance $800,000

Dayne Beams $800,000

Jobe Watson $800,000

Travis Cloke $800,000

TOP AUSSIE SOCCER EARNERS 2016

1. Trent Sainsbury — Jiangsu (China) $5.2m

2. Matthew Spiranovic — Huangzhou (China) $5m

3. Tim Cahill — Melbourne City (Australia) $4.6m

4. Aaron Mooy — Huddersfield Town, loan (England) $3.5m

5. Mile Jedinak — Aston Villa (England) $3.2m

6. Mat Ryan — Valencia (Spain) $2.4m

7. Mitch Langerak — Stuttgart (Germany) $2.3m

8. Robbie Kruse — Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) $2.2m

9. Mark Milligan — Baniyas (UAE) $2.1m

10. Tom Rogic — Celtic (Scotland) $2m

11. Ryan McGowan — Henan Jianye (China) $2m

12. Mathew Leckie — Ingolstadt (Germany) $2m

13. Nathan Burns — FC Tokyo (Japan) $2m

14. Ersan Gulum — Hebei China Fortune (China) $1.9m

15. Apostolos Giannou — Guangzhou R&F (China) $1.9m

16. Massimo Luongo — QPR (England) $1.7m

17. Brad Smith — Bournemouth (England) $1.6m

18. Bailey Wright — Preston North End (England) $1.4m

19. Dario Vidosic — Liaoning Huongyun (China) $1.3m

20. Adam Federici — Bournemouth (England) $1.25m

21. Jason Davidson — Groningen, loan (Netherlands) $1.25m

22. Curtis Good — Newcastle United (England) $1.25m

23. Michael Thwaite — Liaoning Whowin (China) $1.25m

24. Aziz Behich — Bursaspor (Turkey) $1.2m

25. Nikolai Topor-Stanley — Hatta Club (UAE) $1.2m

* Salaries are based on official AFL and A-League figures and industry estimates

^ Some deals include accommodation/relocation and bonuses

sydneyfc wrote:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/AFL/m ... 2d3af6cbf9

AFL trumped by soccer in football code pay stakes

SOCCER has thundered past Australian Rules as the nation’s most lucrative football code.

A Herald Sun investigation has revealed 23 Australian soccer players based in the A-league or overseas earn more than the AFL’s highest-paid stars Lance Franklin, Gary Ablett and Tom Boyd.

It comes as AFL players are locked in a bitter pay dispute with league chiefs over a ­demand for a fixed percentage of the game’s rising revenues.

The AFL’s $1 million men are Franklin, Ablett, Boyd, Nic Naitanui and Scott Pendlebury.

Superstars Patrick ­Dangerfield ($800,000), Nat Fyfe ($900,000), Joel Selwood ($850,000) and Alex Rance ($800,000) all fell short of the $1 million mark in 2016.

But Australian soccer’s top dogs earns five times more cash — China-based defenders Trent Sainsbury, 24, and Matthew Spiranovic, 28, both earn more than $5 million a year.


Sydney superstar is earning $1 million-plus a year, but that is nothing compared to what some Australian soccer players are collecting. Picture: David Caird

Melbourne City’s Tim ­Cahill will collect $4.7 million in his debut A-League season, former City star Aaron Mooy pockets $3.5 million a year on loan to Huddersfield Town in the English second tier from Manchester City.

Other big round-ball ­earn­ers were Socceroos ­captain Mile Jedinak ($3.2 million, Aston Villa), Matthew Spiranovic ($2.5 million, ­Hangzhou Greentown) and Mat Ryan ($2.4 million, Valencia).

Former Manchester United and Chelsea star Mark Bosnich, who was earning almost $8 million a year in his prime, said soccer would always dominate.

“No disrespect to AFL, but they’re catering to a small domestic market, football is part of a world market,” he said.

“But AFL players should be getting a bigger slice of the pie. They get less than their soccer counterparts and there needs to be a realisation that people come to watch the players and not the guys upstairs.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan made $1.7 million in 2015, while A-League boss David Gallop was on $1.4m.

While the AFL has nine players on $800,000 to $950,000, another 12 to 15 Australian soccer players earn between $800,000 and $1.1 million.

The AFL has 850 players at an average of $300,000.

More than 160 Australian players are now playing in Europe and Asia, while there are 260 on A-League lists.

The A-League average wage is $180,000, a $145,000 rise from the last season of the NSL 12 years ago.

The advent of the A-League, the emergence of the lucrative Chinese market and the much-improved Socceroos pay conditions — players average $100,000 a year representing Australia and as much as $200,000 in a World Cup year — has seen soccer wages surge past AFL.

A-League stars will also strike an improved pay deal, with the FFA renegotiating the $40m-a-year TV contract, which expires in May.

The most common pay band for AFL stars is $100,000 to $200,000, which included 188 players in 2015, while 153 earned between $200,000 to $300,000.

Nobody earned more than $1m a year when the contract was averaged out.

The most recent AFL figures showed two players earned $1.2m in 2015, with some contracts being heavily back-ended or front-ended.

TOP AFL EARNERS 2016

Lance Franklin $1 million+

Tom Boyd $1 million+

Gary Ablett $1 million

Nic Naitanui $1 million

Scott Pendlebury $1 million

Jeremy Cameron $950,000

Nat Fyfe $900,000

Joel Selwood $850,000

Kurt Tippett $850,000

Patrick Dangerfield $800,000

Alex Rance $800,000

Dayne Beams $800,000

Jobe Watson $800,000

Travis Cloke $800,000

TOP AUSSIE SOCCER EARNERS 2016

1. Trent Sainsbury — Jiangsu (China) $5.2m

2. Matthew Spiranovic — Huangzhou (China) $5m

3. Tim Cahill — Melbourne City (Australia) $4.6m

4. Aaron Mooy — Huddersfield Town, loan (England) $3.5m

5. Mile Jedinak — Aston Villa (England) $3.2m

6. Mat Ryan — Valencia (Spain) $2.4m

7. Mitch Langerak — Stuttgart (Germany) $2.3m

8. Robbie Kruse — Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) $2.2m

9. Mark Milligan — Baniyas (UAE) $2.1m

10. Tom Rogic — Celtic (Scotland) $2m

11. Ryan McGowan — Henan Jianye (China) $2m

12. Mathew Leckie — Ingolstadt (Germany) $2m

13. Nathan Burns — FC Tokyo (Japan) $2m

14. Ersan Gulum — Hebei China Fortune (China) $1.9m

15. Apostolos Giannou — Guangzhou R&F (China) $1.9m

16. Massimo Luongo — QPR (England) $1.7m

17. Brad Smith — Bournemouth (England) $1.6m

18. Bailey Wright — Preston North End (England) $1.4m

19. Dario Vidosic — Liaoning Huongyun (China) $1.3m

20. Adam Federici — Bournemouth (England) $1.25m

21. Jason Davidson — Groningen, loan (Netherlands) $1.25m

22. Curtis Good — Newcastle United (England) $1.25m

23. Michael Thwaite — Liaoning Whowin (China) $1.25m

24. Aziz Behich — Bursaspor (Turkey) $1.2m

25. Nikolai Topor-Stanley — Hatta Club (UAE) $1.2m

* Salaries are based on official AFL and A-League figures and industry estimates

^ Some deals include accommodation/relocation and bonuses

Soccer players domestic and abroad earning $800,000 or more amounted to 37 in total

as usual, if you dream of being a millionaire, play the world game

if you dream of being broke bum, then there's the rest

Terry wrote:

So for an objective view as I'm a RL & RU man - those pay packets for the overseas Aussies are impressive. It adds to the view that local football is on the rise to be able to produce so many players worthy of such pay packets in football mad countries.

The down side is that obviously they are overseas and the casual fan like myself hasn't ever heard of them and they don't ply their trade here. On balance though it's great for the game overall.

Terry wrote:

So for an objective view as I'm a RL & RU man - those pay packets for the overseas Aussies are impressive. It adds to the view that local football is on the rise to be able to produce so many players worthy of such pay packets in football mad countries.

The down side is that obviously they are overseas and the casual fan like myself hasn't ever heard of them and they don't ply their trade here. On balance though it's great for the game overall.

post_hoc wrote:

Terry wrote:

So for an objective view as I'm a RL & RU man - those pay packets for the overseas Aussies are impressive. It adds to the view that local football is on the rise to be able to produce so many players worthy of such pay packets in football mad countries.

The down side is that obviously they are overseas and the casual fan like myself hasn't ever heard of them and they don't ply their trade here. On balance though it's great for the game overall.

It appears something that RU especially has struggled with, in the recent past if you went to France etc to play you were not eligible to play for the Wallabies, is that still the case?

That is a short sighted approach, I hope that has or will be changed. Global games need to understand that players move around.

The rugby league fans on here might be able to help me, have players been picked for the Kangaroos that are playing in the Super League in Europe?

After all other nations pick Nationals playing in the NRL (NZ, Fiji, PNG and England at the very least)

post_hoc wrote:

personally I think that is short sighted

sydneyfc wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

personally I think that is short sighted

btw mate

we're ganna win the league!!!!! and now you're gonna believe us!!!!!!

The_Wookie wrote:

90% of the time Id say AFL fans couldnt care less about other leagues around the world. Most of the time its soccer and rugby fans telling us how irrelevant we are. Which is cool, but we never asked in the first place.

The_Wookie wrote:

90% of the time Id say AFL fans couldnt care less about other leagues around the world. Most of the time its soccer and rugby fans telling us how irrelevant we are. Which is cool, but we never asked in the first place.

Terry wrote:

The_Wookie wrote:

90% of the time Id say AFL fans couldnt care less about other leagues around the world. Most of the time its soccer and rugby fans telling us how irrelevant we are. Which is cool, but we never asked in the first place.

I agree totally Wookster - you fumbling zealots are oblivious to the outside world. I think it's great you hold captive Melbourne, the desert states and little Tassy. The rest of the known world won't ask about your little game becasue they don't know it exists - karma for you I s'pose.