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Not really news as even some female surfers earn more than the highest earning afl players, but interesting to see what some of our players are on. Some of it is crazy money.
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
# Includes average $100,000 Socceroos wages
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