HALF OF PLAYERS in the SSE Airtricity League earn less than €1,000 a month, according to a wide-ranging survey published by the global players’ union FifPro.
In the survey, which was carried out by the University of Manchester, 56.5% of respondents from the League of Ireland claim their monthly pay packet is less than four figures.
Additionally, the average contract length given to an Irish player is just 11.5 months, a figure significantly lower than the global average of 23 months. Only Brazil (10.7) ranks lower.
The survey also found Irish players receive very few paid holidays during the contracted period. Only 4.6% say they have received annual leave.
The FifPro Global Employment Report 2016 also found that over 40% of the world’s professional footballers have experienced delayed payment of wages.
In total, 13,876 players were surveyed from across leagues in Africa, Europe and Americas — although the top leagues in England, Germany and Spain declined to partake.
41% of respondents had been forced to wait for their salaries over the past two seasons.
“It’s a wake-up call for clubs and governing bodies,” FifPro General-Secretary Theo van Seggelen said. “We cannot accept it any longer.”
It also found 9% of players had suffered from violence and 7% had been approached to fix matches.
The survey is available to read in full here.
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