Amounts of several dozen million euros per season on the accounts of football stars probably no longer surprise anyone. But not always the players were luxurious. Before the football madness hit the world, their salaries were mediocre at best. And some were paid for the game ... in onions and potatoes.
The fabulous salaries of footballers have been the subject of heated discussions recently. There are voices of criticism saying that players do not deserve high (sometimes even eight figures!) Salaries. However, the most surprised by this turn of events are probably the athletes who played football several decades ago. Their "field" wages were sometimes not enough even for a living!
Money degenerates
Just a few generations ago, boys dreaming of a football career could not count on the fact that playing would bring them big money. A versatile Polish athlete, Wacław Kuchar, told Przegląd Sportowy in 1926:“Football was my first and greatest lover. I started a relationship with her at the age of eight and despite the tempting offers and promising views from other sides, I remained faithful to her. "
This allegiance cost him a lot, because he could only do football in his spare time . He worked professionally on a daily basis - and that was how he made a living. He's not the only one. In the interwar period, many athletes were not paid. It was believed that… money degenerates competition.
The situation abroad was not much better. In Britain, at the dawn of professional football, footballers earned only slightly more than skilled workers. The players in post-war Germany had even worse.
Zbigniew Boniek was officially working on five jobs to "go on his own".
As Raphael Honigstein writes in his book "Jürgen Klopp. We make noise " :
(...) the famous club 1. FC Kaiserlautern from 1945 (...) made a living by producing food. The Red Devils, whose ranks were then Fritz Walter, a recently released prisoner of war, played friendly matches with the local teams, which gave them potatoes and onions .
A five-time job
In the 1950s, German "footballers earned between 40 and 75 marks a month, but their salaries depended on the bonuses they earned (10 to 40 marks)," writes Raphael Honigstein. For comparison:a furrier was then earning 250-300 marks a month.
Over time, albeit slowly, the situation began to improve. However, not so much that you could make a living from playing without any problems. Honigstein recalls the words of Guido Schäfer, former footballer of 1. FSV Mainz 05, who recalls:“Will I be able to pay my rent? These were our real struggles. After 10 years in Mainz, two in the third league and eight in the second division, I made enough to buy half a flat. ".
In communist Poland, the situation was even more bizarre. Already in 1958, the Polish Football Association announced the "Charter of the rights and obligations of a football player" with the key point according to which "all active footballers are obliged to work like other citizens or attend schools" . Therefore, workplaces had to employ athletes if they wanted to boast about their achievements. As a result, Zbigniew Boniek officially worked five jobs to get a decent salary for his successes.
The players of clubs cared for by the military, such as Legia Warszawa, were in a better position. Robert Gadocha in the 1970s earned about 8,000 zlotys a month there. Although with today's football stars' earnings it is only pennies…
Of course, even now Polish footballers who play in first-league teams with multi-million contracts can only dream, but they still have no reason to complain. They collect monthly from several to several thousand zlotys for participation in matches and training sessions. Compared to their predecessors in Poland or Germany, even several decades ago they are in a very comfortable situation.
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Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is mainly based on:
- R. Honigstein, Jürgen Klopp. We make noise , Horizon 2018 sign.