Many female soccer players from the two highest German leagues earn little or no money at all, although they train and play under professional conditions. This was the result of a survey by the sports show.
Lina Magull spearheaded the movement when the timing was right. During the European Championship in England in July 2022, when the ongoing boom in women’s football began, she called for a minimum wage. “We footballers should earn so well from the 2nd league that nobody has to work part-time anymore,” said the international of the “Bild-Zeitung”: “We’re talking about a minimum salary of 2,000, 3,000 a month.”
A survey by Sportschau suggests that most players from the two highest German leagues are far from such a salary. According to this, of the 122 players who answered the question about their salary, 34 percent earned a maximum of 500 euros gross per month. Just under a quarter – 24 percent – said they received no money at all. Another 27 percent were below the threshold of 2,000 euros gross salary per month mentioned by Magull.
Only 13 percent said they were above the threshold. Two percent of the players even earn more than 5,000 euros.
The survey is not representative, but it does match the findings that Almuth Schult collected. In 2021, the long-time national goalkeeper and colleagues started a query among the players from the Bundesliga and 2nd division. With 370 participants, the return was significantly higher than at the sports show, but the results are similar, says Schult. According to this, the information provided by the players from the 2nd league at that time resulted in an average monthly salary of 900 euros, in the Bundesliga it was 1,500 euros.
approach to the survey
The editors of the sports show created a list of questions and sent it to the clubs in the Bundesliga and 2nd division with the request that they forward it to all players. It is unclear to what extent this request was granted. In this respect, the number of potential participants is not known. In any case, a total of 128 players took part in the anonymous survey, which is not representative. Participants were those who answered at least one question.
DFB: Average salary in Bundesliga 3,500 euros
Sabine Mammitzsch, Vice-President of the German Football Association and responsible for women’s and girls’ football there, told Sportschau that the average salary of Bundesliga players is now 3,500 euros.
Schult points out that it is not clear which players were included in the survey. “Are all players without a contract also included? Are players included who only receive an expense allowance or only travel expenses or something similar?” asks the Olympic champion from 2016. “Without contract” in this case means that the players have not concluded an employment contract with the club, but have another agreement, but usually also a written one.
For a contribution that will be broadcast on Sunday (07/30/2023) in the first and can already be seen here, the sports show Isabell Mischke visited. The 21-year-old physics student at the University of Paderborn stopped playing football after last season because the effort and income were no longer in proportion. The goalkeeper only received an expense allowance of 100 euros per month from her club FSV Gütersloh.
She paid for it, because with four training sessions a week and one game at the weekend, that didn’t even cover the travel expenses.
Mischke’s former teammate Shpresa Aradini has been traveling from Wadersloh to FSV Gütersloh training for many years. A route is less than 20 kilometers long, but it is already an eight-hour working day behind Aradini when she sets off from her employer’s car dealership.
In the Sportschau survey, 69 percent of the players stated that they had one or more jobs outside of football. It seems to be necessary because only 22 percent stated that they collect bonuses in addition to their mostly meager salary.
In view of such figures, Almuth Schult said that it was “not yet justified” to speak of women’s professional football in Germany. This only applies to clubs such as VfL Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt, i.e. powerful license clubs from the German Football League (DFL).
DFB Vice-President Mammitzsch also admitted that there was still a considerable financial need, especially in the second division. Many players are far away from the minimum wage that Lina Magull demanded, and which should not be confused with the statutory minimum wage in Germany, which is currently twelve euros per hour.
As the Sportschau survey shows, they have similar ideas about the amount of the minimum wage. On average, all participants demanded a gross minimum wage of EUR 2,794 per month for a first-division player and EUR 1,555 for a second-division player. The more meaningful median is 2,500 euros for a player in the Bundesliga and 1,500 euros for a player in the 2nd division. The median indicates the value of which 50 percent of the responses are less than or equal to and the other half are greater than or equal to.
How high should the minimum wage be? (all participants) Mean value (in euros) Median (in euros) Minimum wage Bundesliga 2,794 2,500 Minimum wage 2nd division 1,555 1,500
If only the players who played in the Bundesliga at the end of last season are taken into account, the remarkable result is that the required minimum wage is lower on average than for all participants.
How high should the minimum wage be? (Female Bundesliga players only) Average (in euros) Median (in euros) Minimum wage Bundesliga 2,557 2,500 Minimum wage 2nd division 1,536 1,500
The players from the 2nd league, who contributed 62 percent to the results of the survey, demand almost 400 euros more for a Bundesliga player than their colleagues.
How high should the minimum wage be? (2nd division players only) Mean value (in euros) Median (in euros) Minimum wage Bundesliga 2,956 2,500 Minimum wage 2nd division 1,567 1,000
It was also asked what monthly salary the players consider “appropriate”. It turned out that the footballers make modest demands.
What monthly salary do you think is reasonable? Mean value (in euros) median (in euros) all participants 2,366 2,000 Bundesliga players only 3,393 3,000 2nd division players only 1,794 1,500