Meet the €710,000 per game manager

The worst thing about international managers' huge wages is that this money is taken directly from football education and grass-roots programs

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Think of a football manager who earns about €710,000 per game in a busy season, and about €1m per game in a not-so-busy season. This manager conducts about 32 training sessions a season. His name is Fabio Capello, and he’s the highest paid international manager around, making €8.5m per year.

In comparison, Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho earn between €175,000 to €225,000 per game, and they conduct about 32 training sessions a month. If they would have had a better agent they might have been rewarded like Capello and would have earned about €62m per season.

Capello is an extreme case of disproportionate payment to international managers, but even those who are paid “only” €2.5m per season (Germany’s Joachim Löw ) or €1.5m per season (Vicente del Bosque) are grossly overpaid, recieving per game more than what Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson and Andre Villas-Boas do.

Yes, some international games are extremely important for nations and the pressure they create is huge. However, most international games are played against lesser opponents, and in general the clubs work a lot more.

The worst thing about international managers’ wages is that this money is taken directly from football education and grass-roots programs.

International managers should not be paid so much. Either let them coach clubs as well, or let them be technical directors of an
association, thus giving their role more content.

For the meanwhile they are overpaid and are hurting their nations’ football.

WHAT TO DO NOW?

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3 Comments

  1. Oz added these pithy words on September 6, 2011 | Permalink

    Your point is valid, but if we go into economical analysis you must also consider the ‘opportunity cost’ for the coach. Capello/Löw and others have the option to coach at clubs, with a high likelihood of earning similar salaries.

    Football associations could, in theory, dictate lower salaries in a similar way that the public sector does, but that would come in the cost of attracting different candidates to these positions, and having the position holder more likely to experiment in ‘other revenue opportunities’ – such as promoting players using the national team (its done in places like Croatia and most leading African national teams).

    In either way – its going to be an expensive experience for the football association.

  2. Football Pub added these pithy words on September 9, 2011 | Permalink

    €710,000 per game is too much for Capello`s performance.

  3. Pakito added these pithy words on December 24, 2011 | Permalink

    Do you think international managers spend the time between matches on vacation? How do they select their squad when the time comes? Reading the press?

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