Fast cars, Mediterranean yachts, private island getaways – just a few staples of a professional footballer’s glamorous lifestyle. Or so the perception goes. The same perception dancing through my imagination as a starry-eyed teenager at the Manchester City academy. The same perception shattered by every contract I have signed since.
Last month, the FIFPro Global Employment Report into working conditions in professional football revealed 45% of players around the world earn less than $1,000 per month. To those who typecast all footballers in the mould of the Premier League’s highest-earners, the statistic might come as a shock. Not to me. I am a professional footballer, and for most of my nomadic playing career I have been part of the 45%.
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