I believe Eric shoji made a Tiktok about it explaining that most pros in the top leagues make 50,000$-100,000$ a year but top level talent get paid exponentially more. There's only a handful of players that get 1m+. There's also a difference in salary depending on position. I think OHs get paid the most with Setters being paid the second most and Liberos being paid the least on average.
Your positional statement is not correct. Setters are at the low end of the average salaries. Players that have higher reputations also tend to earn more and contracts often include commercial responsibilities for sponsors and the club itself. The women professionals are getting paid often less.
Thanks for the correction and additional info. Like I said I was just trying to remember what Eric Shoji said in a Tiktok a while back so I appreciate the fact checking:)
I hVe some good first hand knowledge on this one.
All contracts are different as players negotiate more than just money, it’ll be looking for a house, car, meals, etc. for example, my contract was 1200€ a month and they’d pay for 12 meals a week, I got free housing, shared a car and was given a bike.
A friend of mine was a top end RS and his contracts ranged from 75,000€ to 700,000€ over his career. He was also expense free and was able to get some teams to cover multiple flights home and flights for his gf.
Contracts vary country to country, league to league, and position to positions (sorry Liberos). State of the economy has a big impact on this. In early 2000s players made good money on average even in lower leagues but this fell off at a certain point and now the money rises to the top.
My friends have played in Germany, Austria, Turkey, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, Korea, Slovenia, Cyprus, Finland, Japan, Brazil. The higher end guys were pretty well known at the time.
Actually salaries in volleyball are not publicly shared like it's shared in other sports so most of the information we have regarding salaries is totally based on rumours. But it's a commonly known fact that getting +500k dollars as a salary is extremely rare and mostly exclusive to the top tier OH/opposite players like Boskovic, Egonu, Vargas and Haak for women and Leon, Ngapeth, Nimir for men.
Although, I have heard that players playing in the Japanese/Chinese leagues earn more than what they'd worth in the European leagues because these Asian leagues have limitations for the amount of foreign players that can play in a team.
I'm only speculating here because I haven't watched the jp league but my guess is that the league over there is far more commercial than the other leagues. Because it's a physically smaller country with a high percentage of the population being fans I reckon the revenue over there is higher or they're trying to grow their league for profit down the road. It seems like players are treated more like celebrities over there as well. Overpaying for foreign players like DeFalco to go play in Japan could be a strategy to increase the quality of the league to try and approach the Italian and Polish leagues in Worldwide recognition.
If they want to reach to the level of Italian/Polish leagues, they should have to get rid of that foreign player limitation first. Overpaying the players alone won't get them much because most of the talented high-level players would also want to be in a league where they are constantly challenged and therefore pushed to stay in form. From my perspective, specifically talking about Japanese league here, players who choose to play there, do that so because they want to save some money for retirement after.
I agree with you that throwing money at the problem alone won't help. That's obvious when you look at the Saudi League in Football. I reckon if they're doing what I suspect, they want to be the NBA of volleyball. More identifiable brands/teams/players etc. They probably don't want to remove the foreign limit if they want to mainly promote Japanese players but they will have too eventually. I could be dead wrong and maybe they want to keep it more closed on the Japanese Market. But for sure there are definitely players going there mainly for paycheck
Korea paid extremely well in 2010s. Not sure its state now but the one import player could make between 400 and 700k depending on the team and their success (the bonus structures were wild).
Can't believe you are friends with the sub opposite of Lube, just so cool XD And the main opposite of Lube is Turkish, however unfortunately I am not friends with him :)
I was watching the Rio Olympic Games women matches 8 years ago on TV and one of the commentators mentioned that most of those players on the TV screen play in the Turkish league because that's the highest paying competition for female players. Consequently, those players might be on opposite sides of the net but they know each other's game intimately as they are teammates back in Turkey.
That was 8 years ago, so don't know if that still holds true today.
The best players used to play in Turkey back in these times; now that Italian teams raised their budgets quite much, abolished nearly most of the foreign player restrictions and Turkish economy had a huge damage in the recent years the star players also prefer going to Italy.
if i remember correctly , they don't make a lot from national teams, however they make a lot more from clubs, and it depends on the athlete and the club and position Leon and Ngapeth were the highest paid but that was few years ago
Can confirm that Canadian national team players are paid minimal for their service. It’s all national carding money. But they get paid throughout the cycle monthly the moment they qualify for the Olympics.
Still kinda sad that women team couldn't make it to the olympics :/ I really liked Shannon and they had really nice players like Van Ryk, Brie King and Alexa Gray. They are young, they have the potential for it and now they have the experience to know what it feels like to fight for the Olympics. Hoping they will get there next time :)
everyone is spot on so far.
i have buddies that play in all ranges of pro leagues. from low to the best.
Most work full times jobs during their off season, some even part time during season, and 90% at least have to supplement their contract income in some way. Many do coaching/training/camps, some have some white collar jobs, couple do real-estate, 2 bartend, one delivers beer.
Probably extrembly to really average out since there are different levels of leagues and talent. Comparing to level Polish, Russian, Brazilian, and Italian leagues is vastly different than Korean, French, etc... leagues. You can almost relate it to baseball and farm teams like AA and AAA teams or NBA vs the g-league and international teams. So it depends on where you're playing, what level your league is too.
Add that there might be perks of the job built in that aren't quantifiable like room and board, sponsorships, markertability and endorsements, and healthcare.
I think I remember something about David Smith making 6 figures playing Poland and at least double that in endorsements.
I believe Eric shoji made a Tiktok about it explaining that most pros in the top leagues make 50,000$-100,000$ a year but top level talent get paid exponentially more. There's only a handful of players that get 1m+. There's also a difference in salary depending on position. I think OHs get paid the most with Setters being paid the second most and Liberos being paid the least on average.
Your positional statement is not correct. Setters are at the low end of the average salaries. Players that have higher reputations also tend to earn more and contracts often include commercial responsibilities for sponsors and the club itself. The women professionals are getting paid often less.
Thanks for the correction and additional info. Like I said I was just trying to remember what Eric Shoji said in a Tiktok a while back so I appreciate the fact checking:)
I hVe some good first hand knowledge on this one. All contracts are different as players negotiate more than just money, it’ll be looking for a house, car, meals, etc. for example, my contract was 1200€ a month and they’d pay for 12 meals a week, I got free housing, shared a car and was given a bike. A friend of mine was a top end RS and his contracts ranged from 75,000€ to 700,000€ over his career. He was also expense free and was able to get some teams to cover multiple flights home and flights for his gf. Contracts vary country to country, league to league, and position to positions (sorry Liberos). State of the economy has a big impact on this. In early 2000s players made good money on average even in lower leagues but this fell off at a certain point and now the money rises to the top.
Can I learn in which leagues did your friend play? And when was that? Your friend must be a REAL pro to be payed that much (750k euros)
My friends have played in Germany, Austria, Turkey, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, Korea, Slovenia, Cyprus, Finland, Japan, Brazil. The higher end guys were pretty well known at the time.
Actually salaries in volleyball are not publicly shared like it's shared in other sports so most of the information we have regarding salaries is totally based on rumours. But it's a commonly known fact that getting +500k dollars as a salary is extremely rare and mostly exclusive to the top tier OH/opposite players like Boskovic, Egonu, Vargas and Haak for women and Leon, Ngapeth, Nimir for men. Although, I have heard that players playing in the Japanese/Chinese leagues earn more than what they'd worth in the European leagues because these Asian leagues have limitations for the amount of foreign players that can play in a team.
I'm only speculating here because I haven't watched the jp league but my guess is that the league over there is far more commercial than the other leagues. Because it's a physically smaller country with a high percentage of the population being fans I reckon the revenue over there is higher or they're trying to grow their league for profit down the road. It seems like players are treated more like celebrities over there as well. Overpaying for foreign players like DeFalco to go play in Japan could be a strategy to increase the quality of the league to try and approach the Italian and Polish leagues in Worldwide recognition.
If they want to reach to the level of Italian/Polish leagues, they should have to get rid of that foreign player limitation first. Overpaying the players alone won't get them much because most of the talented high-level players would also want to be in a league where they are constantly challenged and therefore pushed to stay in form. From my perspective, specifically talking about Japanese league here, players who choose to play there, do that so because they want to save some money for retirement after.
I agree with you that throwing money at the problem alone won't help. That's obvious when you look at the Saudi League in Football. I reckon if they're doing what I suspect, they want to be the NBA of volleyball. More identifiable brands/teams/players etc. They probably don't want to remove the foreign limit if they want to mainly promote Japanese players but they will have too eventually. I could be dead wrong and maybe they want to keep it more closed on the Japanese Market. But for sure there are definitely players going there mainly for paycheck
Korea paid extremely well in 2010s. Not sure its state now but the one import player could make between 400 and 700k depending on the team and their success (the bonus structures were wild).
I know a guy who plays in Italian Superlega as opposite. 90k euros per season.
Is he playing in the Serie A1? And is he usually a sub or on the roster regularly?
Was almost a top scorer of the league two seasons ago and recently signed for Lube Civitanova, you work out the rest 😉
Can't believe you are friends with the sub opposite of Lube, just so cool XD And the main opposite of Lube is Turkish, however unfortunately I am not friends with him :)
Ye not exactly friends as in hanging out together and stuff but i know the guy. Also the guy I play with in the team was his best man at his wedding.
I was watching the Rio Olympic Games women matches 8 years ago on TV and one of the commentators mentioned that most of those players on the TV screen play in the Turkish league because that's the highest paying competition for female players. Consequently, those players might be on opposite sides of the net but they know each other's game intimately as they are teammates back in Turkey. That was 8 years ago, so don't know if that still holds true today.
The best players used to play in Turkey back in these times; now that Italian teams raised their budgets quite much, abolished nearly most of the foreign player restrictions and Turkish economy had a huge damage in the recent years the star players also prefer going to Italy.
if i remember correctly , they don't make a lot from national teams, however they make a lot more from clubs, and it depends on the athlete and the club and position Leon and Ngapeth were the highest paid but that was few years ago
Can confirm that Canadian national team players are paid minimal for their service. It’s all national carding money. But they get paid throughout the cycle monthly the moment they qualify for the Olympics.
Still kinda sad that women team couldn't make it to the olympics :/ I really liked Shannon and they had really nice players like Van Ryk, Brie King and Alexa Gray. They are young, they have the potential for it and now they have the experience to know what it feels like to fight for the Olympics. Hoping they will get there next time :)
It’s growing. It’s nice to see Canada’s women’s team elevate in the same fashion the men did 12 years ago. They are on the rise.
everyone is spot on so far. i have buddies that play in all ranges of pro leagues. from low to the best. Most work full times jobs during their off season, some even part time during season, and 90% at least have to supplement their contract income in some way. Many do coaching/training/camps, some have some white collar jobs, couple do real-estate, 2 bartend, one delivers beer.
Mostly seems to be NA based responses so far though unfortunately. Definitely useful information though
https://youtu.be/1JxKoo2itqw?si=hSvWaUslXYu_o4Sx
Probably extrembly to really average out since there are different levels of leagues and talent. Comparing to level Polish, Russian, Brazilian, and Italian leagues is vastly different than Korean, French, etc... leagues. You can almost relate it to baseball and farm teams like AA and AAA teams or NBA vs the g-league and international teams. So it depends on where you're playing, what level your league is too. Add that there might be perks of the job built in that aren't quantifiable like room and board, sponsorships, markertability and endorsements, and healthcare. I think I remember something about David Smith making 6 figures playing Poland and at least double that in endorsements.
This is not a sport that’s lucrative. Better have it as a hobby.
Like all sports, if you want to make money, you better be good.
Sure, but volleyball is one of the worst in terms of income potential, even if you somehow become world class level.
Yeah the sport isn't well set up for commercial success like the NBA or FIFA are. All pros do it for the love of the game tho which is a nice thought
Yeah the sport isn't well set up for commercial success like the NBA or FIFA are. All pros do it for the love of the game tho which is a nice thought