The rising stars of football and their money
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The World Cup is a catwalk of footballing talent. Lesser known players are thrust into the spot light and launched onto the global soccer scene often with an enormous increase in wages. But how much do those young, impressionable players know about personal finance?
We've all seen the stories of high profile players blowing their fortunes and ending up bankrupt, and players in the English Premier League can expect wages of around $10million a year.
In this episode we hear from two former footballers who now help others manage their money. Swedish footballer, Philip Haglund tells Sam Fenwick how difficult it is not to spend on expensive items when the first pay cheque comes in, and former Manchester United and France International, Louis Saha, explains why players can be overwhelmed by how much they earn and what he’s doing to try and help current and former athletes manage their finances better.
Presenter/producer: Sam Fenwick (Photo: Cody Gakpo of Netherlands vies with Tyler Adams of USA. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | World Football in Qatar is the podcast taking you behind the scenes with all 32 teams at the World Cup. |
| 0:07.4 | We're hearing from the players, the fans and people in Qatar, telling the truly global story of the competition. |
| 0:15.2 | That's World Football in Qatar from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:19.4 | Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:23.8 | Hello, I'm Sam Fenwick, |
| 0:25.6 | and this is Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:33.9 | The men's 2022 World Cup is entering its final week. |
| 0:38.8 | Lesser-known players have been thrust into the spotlight, |
| 0:41.8 | scouted by the world's top clubs and launched onto the global soccer scene. |
| 0:46.8 | Well, this is what it sounds like to win at a World Cup for Morocco. |
| 0:53.4 | But will the rising stars of 2022 be able to cope with their mega salaries? |
| 0:58.6 | The more I was playing well, the more the salary goes, the price tag and all those kind of like money. |
| 1:03.7 | So it's really hard at a young age to get that kind of like numbers in your head. |
| 1:09.3 | Former Manchester United player Louis Saha |
| 1:11.6 | tells us young players are drilled to play the game, |
| 1:14.8 | but not to be savvy with the money they earn. |
| 1:17.8 | 90% of the players are so passionate about their sport. |
| 1:21.9 | And it's really hard to actually be thinking about something else |
| 1:25.7 | because as a competitor, you have to have that kind of sacrifice. |
| 1:31.3 | Because the World Cup is immediately before the transfer window opens, it's effectively a beauty parade. |
| 1:37.6 | It's a catwalk of the world's best talent, some of which we know about, but some of which you might call perhaps up and |
| 1:44.5 | coming. |
... |
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