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The judgments are made. Period Any discussion of money and kickers in Corona’s time inevitably generates the same comments: the footballer makes a lot of money. Also in the Swiss Super League.
If it was the dismissal of nine stars by the boss of Sion, Christian Constantin, because they did not give their consent to work in the short term in a few hours with the gun to their heads. If it was the FCB players who refused to give 17.5 percent of their annual wages. Or if it was the Swiss Football League, which requires federal funds due to the crisis. The result of the comments is always the same uniform porridge: the footballers in Switzerland are all stupid millionaires in shorts.
Some of the most violent reactions:
- “Footballers with overpaid wages are still doing very well.”
- Hey guys, you deserve five or six digits! I am level and in the current situation I have no prospect of a new job! So keep the ball flat! »
- Give this super Supis more coal. (…) I have no words. »»
- “I can understand these ‘soccer stars’ because with a pay cut they can no longer afford their rented showcases and luxury apartments.”
- “Only one player earns about a month what another player earns a year.”
- “To be fair, it must be said that an average FCB player wins as much per day as the average player per year. That is still a little difference 😉 »
- “Without style, without level, without respect, without social skills, these alleged arrogant and rich stars.”
- “And the stupid argument that these professionals earn so much because after their careers have to come to the end of their lives it’s a slap in the face for all Büezers.”
- “But what footballers deserve isn’t right, period!”
- “A little Büezer earns 4,500 francs a day for nine hours of work. The footballer 4,500 francs per hour? Everyone feels stupid! »
Judgments Or are they prejudices that must be clarified? SonntagsBlick took a deep look at the ten clubs in the Super League. What do the popular “overpaid stars” of the soul gain, which are boiling noisily and well seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili?
Of course, the clubs have not disclosed the players’ contracts. Unlike in the United States, we understand that wages are still classified and therefore taboo. But there are enough people in each club who have an idea why these gross salary categories are probably estimates, but they are accurate. Important: The salary categories disclosed here do not include any point, victory, or stake award. And the “Protzkarossen” and “Luxuswohnungen” (Volksseele) are only included in the quantity if they are an integral part of it.
Far from millions
And to get a meaningful average, the ten highest and lowest wages were not taken into account. The result: The average salary for the Super League footballer is around CHF 13,900. It is a good salary, no doubt. It is twice the Swiss average salary, which is 6,500 Swiss francs. But miles away from a million executive employee salaries or wages, for example in the pharmaceutical (CHF 23,000), financial services (CHF 20,000) or insurance (CHF 19,000) sectors. And the bosses of the bosses? UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti had to deal with around 12.5 million Swiss francs last year. In 2018, it still exceeded 14 million francs.
The same and Lionel Messi (each with a salary of CHF 32 million last season) and Neymar (salary of CHF 39 million) have a) a decent salary, b) double their annual salary with advertising, that is, around 100 million a year, and c) everyone has had an unpleasant contact with the law due to tax issues, so where do these prejudices come from? Swiss footballers will quickly become the same pot as the biggest winners in the big leagues with their sometimes obscene wages and at least semi-criminal side effects around these millions. The idea of a similar payout is tempting if YB’s cracks in the Champions League are on the same ground as Juve’s superstars around Cristiano Ronaldo.
YB sports director Christoph Spycher has the same perception. “In the bigger leagues, huge sums of money are paid in terms of transfers and wages. These excesses cause resentment among the population, which I can very well understand, “says the realistic man from Oberscherli in the municipality of Köniz in the canton of Bern.
But they create a distorted image. In Switzerland it is not easy as a professional soccer player to win a lot. There are many players in Challenge League and Super League who are not lying down in pink. Another thing that should not be forgotten: the professional footballer is a temporary job. After an active career, it is important to start a second job, ten or fifteen years late compared to new coworkers.
Corona makes everything worse
So, in the Super League, a single player receives a million fixed wages: Zdravko Kuzmanovic from Basel (33). Five years ago, FCB drew him from the great Inter Milan to the knee of the Rhine. In the summer of 2015, when he signed his five-year contract, FCB swam in the money, was a regular guest in the Champions League, and Watford He was a financially powerful competitor to the Premier League, and secured the services of the central midfielder.
Alone: These golden times are definitely a thing of the past, first-class honey pots are further than ever. The crown crisis has exacerbated the precarious situation, the structural deficit is widening and widening. In short: President Bernhard Burgener has to save. The expired contracts of those who earn the most are no longer renewed for the same remuneration, foreign professionals are paid as cheaply as possible.
With a million bonuses
The same applies to young talents who join the first team team and only collect an average amount of four figures. A fraction of what the best winners get. There are still enough at FCB despite strongly performance-based contracts. That Valentin Stocker (31, ex Hertha), Fabian Frei (31, ex Mainz), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (31, ex Sporting) and Silvan Widmer (27, ex Udinese) have their price due to their experience abroad and their Palmarès out of the question. Luca Zuffi (30) and Taulant Xhaka (29) have also been there for years and have seen Heusler’s financially lucrative era.
The contracts for the new YB class leader are at least as performance-oriented. That is why even the top two winners, Guillaume Hoarau (36) and Miralem Sulejmani (31) only receive bonuses per million a year. “Our salary system is based on the fact that you can earn a lot if you succeed,” says Spycher of the Berne salary structure. “Players have above average fixed wages and bonuses. In the past two years with two championship titles and a qualification each for the Champions League and Europa League group stage, the club and players have made a lot of money. Then the calculation worked for everyone involved. »
Captain Fabian Lustenberger (32, ex Hertha) is right behind this duo. Then there is the big salary hole. Most of the master team is in the 10,000 to 30,000 franc range. Despite record sales of 80 million francs in the first championship season, in which the first class was also achieved, and despite some great earnings, YB has never achieved a total salary bill of more than 50 million for the entire the workforce like the FCB in the same season.
The fat years are over
But the fat years of the Champions League are probably over. Even if they have not had to use the home bank (Rihs family) beyond their “regular” commitment in recent years, Bernese incomes will also drop dramatically. “There will certainly be a wage-free cleanup,” thinks Spycher. Sponsorship money will flow much more sparsely, viewer numbers will drop dramatically, and there is a new television deal to be negotiated for the 2021/22 season and beyond, for which the timing couldn’t be worse from the league’s perspective. and the clubs. Spycher: “In Switzerland, club efforts to reduce wages have been remarkable for a long time.” At YB too.
If YB spreads with a player like Hoarau or Sulejmani, which seems extremely unlikely, only with deep and massive references. The belt will have to be tightened massively. How tight Spycher: “This cannot yet be quantified because it is unclear when to play again and when spectators will be allowed to return to the stadium.”
And B is number one financially, Basel is close. But the rest of the league? Only Christian Constantin in Valais can afford to be a top star in the top segment. Pajtim Kasami (27 years old, former Olympiakos) earns more than half a million francs. CC recently put three big winners on the street: Alex Song, Seydou Doumbia and Xavier Kouassi, Antoin Grgic (23, ex VfB), Ermir Lenjani (30, ex Rennes) and Anton Mitrjuschkin (24, ex Spartak). They are in the 20,000 to 50,000 category. This is the category in which the highest earners in mid-size clubs are generally found. The FCZ has a considerable part there. Lucerne, where the average after the investigation on Sundays is 11,500 Swiss francs, Lugano and Servette are some.
FCSG with the best price / performance ratio
And the little ones? At Thun and Xamax, the vast majority of players earn less than CHF 10,000. Thun President Markus Lüthi explains in the “Schweizer Illustrierte”: “A player who becomes the first youth team earns around 4,000 francs a month with us, players in the middle segment 6,000 to 7,000 francs, and then there are few who receive a fixed salary of CHF 10,000, multiplied by twelve.
The price / performance ratio is by far the best in eastern Switzerland! Most of the players of the leader St. Gallen receive a modest basic salary of around 5,000 francs. Thanks to bets, points and victory bonuses, you can increase it. Like the first in the table, they did quite well.
And then there is the second highest division. The challenge league. Also a professional league. The teams play there with a team structure and infrastructure that are at the SL level, such as those of the Lausanne Leader and GC. But even very small and humble clubs like Kriens or Wil bustle where the dimensions are completely different and are much more reminiscent of amateur football than the Bernabéu or the Camp Nou.
The Lausanne owners of the global group Ineos have invested a lot of money, especially in the staff, to reap the rewards of their financial efforts and the new stadium as quickly as possible in the upper house. For example, they gave Enzo Zidane, the son of the real coach Zinédine, who had moved a long time ago and was paid an incredible 29,000 francs a month. Many players have a salary of more than CHF 10,000. In GC, on the other hand, now only one person, Vero Salatic, stands above her. Most of it is underneath. Many are even below a fixed amount of 5,000.
It gets tight with short-term work
Still a lot, if you compare it to the SC Kriens, for example. The Lucernes are currently sensational in fourth place, just one point behind GC. But an employee over CHF 10,000? Sports director Bruno Galliker has to laugh out loud. I can tell you exactly what we paid for. Our average salary is CHF 2,700. It also bothers me, this image of the Swiss soccer millionaire that many people have », says the former FCL sports director. “And then even a small club like us, at least outside the region, is thrown into the same pot just because we play in the Challenge League. If someone has a salary of 3,000 francs and even has a short-term job, you can quickly calculate that it will be scarce. ‘ Very tight A short time soccer player with that salary scratches the Swiss poverty line of around 2,300 Swiss francs.
Wil-Captain Philipp Muntwiler also knows this dimension, although he has played more than 200 SL games: “Many clubs have to fight and, above all, many young soccer players still live with their parents because they cannot afford to live alone. The crown pandemic will exacerbate the situation. “
2,700 francs. Poverty line. Hotel mom. Prot bodies and luxury apartments are far away.
A comment from BLICK Sports Director Felix Bingesser
The FC Thun defender is now unemployed because the decadent Frank Ribéry has eaten a steak of gold in front of the camera in Dubai? The discussion about existential needs in soccer is currently developing in this way.
Yes, there are excesses and yes, certain salaries are dizzying and the display of certain dull cheeks is unbearable. But that has little to do with Swiss football. In international comparison, salary levels in Switzerland have decreased in recent decades.
In the 1980s, Heinz Hermann hailed the advances of Paris St. Germain. I could earn more at Xamax. World stars like Günther Netzer, Uli Stielike or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge used to come to Switzerland in the fall of their careers. Today you can earn ten times more only in China.
According to the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Swiss footballers should be denied unemployment benefits if they start training but are still unable to play. All the other workers and artists and artists are better. It is absurd. And maybe it has something to do with the cliché of spoiled millionaires. But this picture does not fit, the salary structure here is mostly reasonable.
And if one or the other wins very well, we have to ask ourselves which league we want. A pure training league? Or do we want to be a footballing nation that can set the tone in the European Cup? We are behind Cyprus in the UEFA ranking. But sometimes better wages are paid there than here.