How Much Do Footballers Earn Compared to Rugby Players?
It’s no secret that football players earn immense amount of money. Football is the most popular sport in the world, enjoyed by people from different continents, so it makes sense that there is money to be made by footballers. But, how big is the disparity between the football players and players from other sports? We were interested in answering this question by comparing football players’ earnings to rugby players’, since rugby is also one of the most viewed sports in the UK and the rest of the world.
To answer this question, we’ll take a look at an infographic created by the team behind Betting Sites. It tells us everything we need to know about the earnings of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two top players in the world right now. We’ll compare it to what we know about Rugby players’ earnings, and hopefully see how large the discrepancy is.
Football Dwarfs Rugby Salaries
The financial dominance of football in the sports industries is pretty clear. But, why is that so? Do football players work much harder and train much harder than rugby players? Do they do more for the planet and society? Not necessarily.
Yet, Messi and Ronaldo earn more than 30 times what top rugby players earn during the same period. Specifically, Cristiano Ronaldo’s yearly club salary is around $35 million, whereas Messi’s yearly salary is $45 million. At the same time, top rugby player, Dan Carter, earns around $1.3 million in a year.
Therefore, Messi’s and Ronaldo’s net worth amounts to $340 and $450, respectively, which is something Dan Carter can only dream about. But, the players are not to blame for this. The majority of elite sportsmen and sportswomen engaged are part of the industry because they love their sports — money is just a bonus that they get to enjoy.
Brands and Endorsements
Another big reason why football players earn so much money has to do with brands, advertisements, and endorsements. The fact that football has a much larger viewership than other sports, including rugby, means that big companies are more willing to sponsor and support top football players.
We can see that Messi and Ronaldo are sponsored by a large number of the richest companies in the world. Some of them pay the two tens of millions of dollars to promote their goods. For example, Messi signed a lifetime $10 million a year contract with Adidas, and Ronaldo signed a lifetime $1 billion contract with Nike.
Dan Carter is also sponsored by Adidas, but for much less money. He has recently also signed a contract with Tag Heuer, but he could never imagine signing a $1 billion sponsorship deal. He also lost an important sponsor, Land Rover, when he admitted to driving under the influence, which was an expected consequence.
To sum it up, even though Dan Carter and other top rugby players earn much less than Messi, Ronaldo and other football stars, there is little to no chance that any of them will starve or become homeless. The disparity is there, but all professional sports players around the world still earn much more than doctors, teachers, and other common professions. However, this should be a discussion for another time.
