To envision a footballer going broke is unthinkable.
You think about how generously paid they are, and as a result, you just couldn’t fathom the idea of them going broke.
Especially when there are some who make more in a week than some do in years of their life.
Yep, that happens.
However, interestingly and also shockingly
Many footballers do in fact go broke and what you will find today, there are some valid reasons for it.
Here today I will share with you the four main factors why footballers do become broke.
Table of Contents
Reason 1: From A Big Salary To No Salary
One of the main reasons footballers end up broke is because they have this high wage throughout their career that stops the day they retire.
They make all these millions that allow them to live a luxurious lifestyle through their twenties and sometimes well into their thirties.
However the day that they stop playing, their salary stops coming in, while they continue to live the lifestyle they are accustomed to.
This means plenty of footballers will start spending more than they are able to, taking out loans and essentially living a life they can’t maintain.
Reason 2: Not Used To Having Money
The day a footballer receives their first professional contract, there not just putting pen to paper to play for a certain team.
They also agreeing on a set amount of money, to be paid to that player over the next couple of months to a few years.
For a lot of players the money that these clubs will offer them, will be an amount they have never seen before.
In fact its increasingly common nowadays to see players receiving 5 figures per month.
Even if they are still on the fringes of the first team.
In fact, the average income of a Premier League footballer is £60,000 a week.
An amount that some families don’t earn in a year.
So as a result, you can only imagine that there are a number of footballers who all of a sudden have all this money.
But have no idea what to do with it.
As they have never had paychecks before like they are now getting from football clubs on a weekly basis.
This is why if you look especially at the younger footballers on social media who are signed to professional clubs, they will be showing off the flashiest garms.
However while a young footballer may love this, I mean who wouldn’t love getting paid bags of money to play football.
The reality is that not every footballer makes it.
So you will have players who earn a nice amount of money for a few years.
And then stop earning that amount, maybe because of release, injury, or no interest from other clubs.
This can come as quite a shock to some, and as you can imagine will leave some footballers at square one.
Reason 3: Addiction Issues
Next up on reasons why footballers end up broke, is addiction issues.
An addiction can have a big impact on anybody, and this includes footballers which with the amount they make, you can imagine as the potential to get messy quickly.
Over the years there have been a number of high-profile players who have found themselves turning to drink, gambling, and drug additions over the years.
Now there are many reasons why a footballer would do any of those things.
They could have had those issues before becoming a professional footballer or they could have developed them after.
However, the main thing is that some footballers have messed up their careers and lost lots of money due to having an addiction to something.
A good example would be Paul Merson who is a former footballer and now current presenter on SkySports.
He is someone who racked up 7 million pounds in losses after a long gambling stint, in which he lost himself in the addiction.
While addictions can easily build up for anyone, for a footballer can be even easier, as money comes in big amounts and financial freedom brings its own issues.
Reason 4: Poor Investments
An easy way a footballer can find themselves going broke, is through poor investments.
Whether this be from buying excessive cars and private jets.
Or some mate, who supposedly knows the best thing to invest in telling you where to put your money.
Footballers doing this can lose lots of money from doing this which can leave them in a bad financial position.
That is despite all the millions that are made and accumulated through the years of a player playing.
However, saying that there are footballers who do invest well.
You will see in the news of players who have properties in real estate for instance.
For instance, Neymar and Diogo Jota are getting into the E-Sports scene, which is getting more popular by the day, by setting up E-Sports clubs.
There is Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs who own hotels in Manchester and you have ex-Liverpool man Micheal Owen who has successfully invested millions in horses.
However, these are just a few footballers who are making smart decisions investment-wise.
As there are many footballers who are making the wrong investments because they don’t know what there doing with their money.
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