A study conducted by XPro, a UK charity for former football professionals, showed that three out of five English Premier League players declare bankruptcy within five years of retirement.
Despite the player earn an average wage 35,000 euros a week, many players blew their cash or followed poor investment advice, while as many as one in three were hit by costly divorce proceedings and settlements.
“It might sound incredible to normal fans but it can and does happen,” said Geoff Scott,XPro manager.
XPro supports 30,000 former players, added that “too many (players) forgot to put money aside for the taxman”, while excessive spending linked to spiralling wages was also a factor.
The England Professional Footballers Association manager, Gordon Taylor, disputed the research, however, suggesting that the real dimension for bankruptcy is between 10 and 20%.
Taylor tells the problem is that the players do not plan for the day they life when they will earn less money: “Footballers, with very few exceptions, aren’t going to earn as much money when they finish playing. We encourage young players to save for the future, for when they retire.”
Another problem for the players is represented by the agents and advisers who are only interested in them when they earned huge salaries: “I have to be careful what I say about agents, but they are there during the good times and they’re a bit like butterflies in the bad times. All the players come on to the PFA for advice when things have gone badly wrong.”
“It is about saving, it’s about being sensible, it’s about being careful, it’s about not expecting to have the same lifestyle. It’s not everybody that can adapt. That exit strategy is quite important.”
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