Growing up I wanted to play pro soccer or American football. I love both sports and really all sports, but these are my two favorites. I ended up playing professionally for 7 years. Never in a million years did I think I’d experience 17 countries as a footballer. Most pro players got there by playing well their whole life from a youth, to high school and college. But there are many who blossomed late. I can give you many stories. I was one of them, therefore I know you can do it with the right knowledge and help. Just remember, someone is always watching. Note: This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
50+ different pro soccer leagues worldwide below
Almost every country in the world has a pro league…
The larger countries usually have 3 leagues that all pay good money.
Some leagues who aren’t even in the top 25 league have clubs who pay more than the biggest clubs in the world…
Example: Big name players like Tevez & Oscar have been paid top 5 highest in the globe from clubs in China, plus Ronaldo in Saudi – reports say 200 million per year.
You can make great money in “small leagues” 🙂
Worldwide scale/earnings: Big difference from the top and bottom players. Some leagues pay net, others gross.
- Top players 1-30M+
- Above average player 300K
- Average $150K
- Below average 50K
Top 5 world class leagues
Average pay of 2-5 million per year depending on the team and league…
The top clubs in each league average player salary is 4-7 million usd per year. The lower teams in these leagues average 250-400K per year.
- English Premier League – England (3.9M average player USD)
- Spanish La Liga – Spain (2.8M)
- German Bundesliga – Germany (2.1M)
- Italian Serie A – Italy (2.2M)
- French Ligue 1 – France (1.5M)
Other large leagues
[ranked 6 – 20]
Average pay $250,000 – top players make 6M annually.
There’s a big difference between the top players and teams regarding pay scale – in every league.
- Portuguese Primeira – Portugal (top 3 clubs starters average 1.4M, league average 250K)
- Dutch Eredivisie – Netherlands
- Belgian Pro League – Belgium
- Turkish Super Lig – Turkey
- Liga MX – Mexico (220K)
- Campeonato Brazileiro Serie A – Brazil
- Major League Soccer – USA (370K)
- Russian Premier League – Russia
- Championship league – England [div 2]
- Danish Superliga – Denmark
- Ukrainian Premier League – Ukraine
- Argentina Primera Division – Argentina
- Super League Greece – Greece
- Scottish Premiership – Scotland
- Austrian Football Bundesliga – Austria
Note: Depending on the country, some tax up to 70%…
Others don’t pay tax for reasons like this Monaco story… “Monaco’s ability to attract top players has been helped by the fact that, under the principality’s laws, foreigners do not pay tax on wages although the club are currently at odds with the French football authorities over tax exemptions.”
Strong mid size leagues
[ranked 21 – 35]
Average pay $120,000 – top players earn multi millions.
In China and Saudi, some make over 30M per year.
- Chinese Super League – China (700K average, but high b/c the top player earn BIG coin)
- J1 League – Japan
- Czech First League – Czech Republic
- Swiss Raiffeisen Super League – Switzerland
- Swedish Allsvenskan – Sweden
- Norwegian Tippeligaen – Norway
- A-League – Australia (120K)
- Israeli Premier League – Israel (big difference between top 4 clubs to the rest. Top player makes 500K net)
- Croatian First Football League – Croatia
- Italian Serie B – Italy [div 2]
- French Ligue 2 – France [div 2]
- German 2 Bundesliga – Germany [div 2]
- Saudi Professional League – Saudi
- Ekstraklasa – Poland
Smaller size leagues
[ranked 36 – 50+]
Average $50,000 – $80,000 per year – top players $180,000 annually
- Chilean Primera Division – Chile
- USL Championship – USA [div 2]
- UAE Pro League – United Arab Emirates
- Primera Division – Costa Rica
- S League – Singapore
- First Division – Cyprus
- Liga Panamena – Panama
- Persian Gulf Pro League – Iran
- K League – South Korea
- Besta deild karla – Iceland
- Kazakhstan Premier League – Kazakhstan
- Hungarian NB I – Hungry
- Azerbaijan Premier League – Azerbaijan
- Paraguayan Primera Division – Paraguay
- Liga 1 – Romania
- Qatar stars league – Qatar
- Primera A – Colombia
- Super Liga – Serbia
- GNF 1 – Morocco
Goal .com showed that former Liverpool player ‘Pennant to be the highest paid player in Singapore’ making about $45,000 per month USD, which is about $500,000 a year.
Up until 2020 most of the best American players never made it as far as England, Spain or Italy.
A few US national players played in Germany and did well. Although, currently the top 10-20 players are playing in Italy, England, Germany.
Just in the last several years China has been paying players more in their league than the top players in Spain and England.
Pro soccer leagues in America
The top tier league is MLS, second tier is USL.
The USL used to be called the A-League before they changed the name.
If you are think about trying out for a club in the US choose USL. You have a much better chance and can prove yourself there.
MLS average player salary is $380,000… Some earn 4 – 6+ million yearly salaries.
USL pays a minimum of about $30,000 annually, averaging 40-50K. In 2022 the highest paid in USL was Kyle Vassell at 180K [San Diego] and Cameron Lancaster 140K [Louisville City].
Drogba played for a USL club not long ago in Arizona, Romario played in Miami, Freddy Adu had a USL contract for good money.
The time frame to play pro soccer
We all know you can’t play professional sports forever or even for more than 20 years. Yes, there have been a few in each sport who played more than 20 years, but not many.
A 10 year career is amazing, but the average pro athlete only plays for 2 years.
If this is surprising to you, it’s because you think and see all the star players who play for 10+ years.
Most people I talk to think like this and to be honest, it’s really easy to forget about all the pro’s who didn’t make it.
The ones who got injured or the ones who made it, but couldn’t keep it going for whatever reasons.
Prime age to play pro soccer
The prime age for a pro soccer player is age 27-28.
This is about the same for other sports like basketball, football and most sports.
There are certain sports and positions who can play longer like golfers or goalkeepers. They can play longer, because they are not required to run as much.
People think that age 30 is young in sports, but that’s only because they see the few superstars in each sport who play in their 30’s. But notice, once they hit 30-32 most usually go downhill.
Age 28 is a great age, because you are still young enough to feel good and run fast, but also you have lots of experience.
How to get a tryout to play pro soccer
There are many ways to get a tryout, but some are better than others.
One of the easiest ways is going to big open/public tryout that teams offer.
Example: MLS clubs will have open tryouts every year and they cost about $500 last I saw.
This is an opportunity for you, but more than anything it’s a great way for the club to make easy money…
Two hundred players paying $500 is 100K! WOW! In these tryouts, there might be 1 or 2 players that get asked to come back.
A better way to get noticed is by having a college coach, scout or friend of a pro coach to refer you.
Referrals coming from someone who’s trusted by the coach… In addition, these are usually when you get to come play with the actual pro team.
The open tryouts that I mentioned earlier are not with the pro team, rather with a bunch of random players.
The average cost per tryout
You are looking at travel [flight or driving], hotel, food and that’s pretty much it.
Often times you can get the housing and food for free, which I cover below.
If you are invited by the club to come tryout with the team, there is usually no cost.
These tryouts usually last 1 or 2 days, sometimes 1 or 2 weeks or even longer. It’s all part of the process to play pro soccer…
Some clubs will drag it out, if they like you but are not sure if they want to sign you. This is when they see potential, but aren’t ready to pull the trigger.
When I was on trial in Denmark for several week, they ended up sending me to Singapore for 1 month.
The club in Denmark liked me, but the coach was new and wanted to let the season end before releasing players that he didn’t want, because he still had to pay them.
So to keep me in their sight, they worked out a deal with a club in Asia that put me in a condo for free.
The Asian club [Geylang United] also took care of my flight and gave me a per-diem for my food and any small sight seeing or travel I wanted to do.
Per-diem for clubs is like $300+ per week, which is more than you will use to eat.
Piette vs Romario
How to save money when trying out for pro
Everyone has a budget, which means they only have so much money to spend. Both the player and the clubs.
With so many players in the world to choose from, clubs will often say they don’t have the budget for certain things. Expenses like your travel, hotel, food.
Most clubs big and small will take care of your stay and food.
You are responsible for getting there and oftentimes a ride to practice.
What you can do is ask if there are any players who could put you up for a few days and give you a ride to practice. This will save you hundreds of dollars!
Many clubs also have deals with restaurants, so ask if the club has any extra coupons or ways you can get a free breakfast or dinner.
You can get everything paid for, but plan on saving money for your flight or gas to drive across the country.
It’s all a gamble, but it’s the soccer/football world.
Communication with pro club or coach
One common thing that I saw with clubs, coaches, managers was that when they say they will bring you in they will bring you in.
The hard part is the waiting game. Oftentimes, for me it was a deal where you speak with them at the end of the season, and then they say they will bring you in during preseason of the next season.
In this 2-4 weeks or more, you wonder if they forgot about you because they won’t contact you in the meantime.
They will contact you like a day or so before you report, so you have to be ready.
So remember, if you don’t hear from them in a few weeks it’s normal.
Don’t contact them in this time, because they are super busy and don’t want to hear from you about nothing.
You have to be patient if you want to play pro soccer.
How to speed up process with highlight video
If you can make a good highlight video that shows your talent in a very short amount of time, you can draw interest from coaches.
This will help save you hundreds or thousands of dollars on not having to travel to them.
If they don’t like your style, they will tell you or not contact you back… This is better than going and being told in person, after spending tons of money on the trip.
Things not to put in your highlight video are adding replay or slow motion.
Choose to work hard for you and others
I give thanks to all my family, coaches and friends who believed in me and helped me. Couldn’t have done it without them and I will tell you why.
There are several things you need to do in a long period of time for this to work.
Making the right choices to work hard and listening to your coaches and know that you need to always improve technically.
Coaches will ask each other about your character… To play pro soccer you have to be more than talented…
You have to be able to deal with pressure and believe in yourself.
Make sure your soccer skills are clean
The biggest difference in each level of these pro leagues is the 1st touch & passing skills.
Not the running speed or body size.
Yes, you have to be a good quick player, but not anything special.
The main thing is your first touch, comfort on the ball and your passing skills.
Coaches can see this in just a few seconds…
So many players are fancy on the ball nowadays, but pro coaches don’t want to see that.
One of the best things you can do to improve your first touch and passing is training in a racquetball court.
If you want to make sure your ball control skills are clean, get my online courses like so many do.
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