How footballers spend their money and enjoy their spare time

It’s no secret that accumulating wealth is hard, but once you achieve the goal of financial freedom, knowing how to spend it wisely is just as difficult. Footballers earn millions of pounds over the course of their careers and they need to spend it wisely. They also get a lot of spare time, and it’s interesting to see how they choose to relax and wind down away from the pitch.

Top earning footballers

These days, the very best football players on the planet earn millions of pounds each year. While the average wage of a UK employee is around £30,000-a-year, Cristiano Ronaldo was earning approximately £25m per year while playing for Manchester United before he terminated his contract back in November. The Portuguese superstar is now reportedly in talks to join a team in Saudi Arabia on a contract worth over £100m!

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, player of all time. The Argentinean international may be coming towards the end of his illustrious career but he’s still able to command a huge salary and earns around £20m per year at Paris Saint-Germain. Messi’s team-mate Kylian Mbappe recently signed a mega contract with the French giants worth a reported £50m a year including bonuses.

It’s not just the elite players that earn huge money as the majority of Premier League players earn at least £1m per season, so there is an enormous amount of money to be made in football.

How do footballers spend it?

Having millions of pounds at your disposal means you can buy pretty much anything you want. Players also invest their money to make sure they have enough to fund their lifestyles after their career comes to an end. Here are some of the things footballers like to spend their money on:

• Cars: Most footballers buy expensive cars. Bentley’s, Range Rovers, Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Mercedes and even Bugatti’s are popular choices.
• Property: Football players like to live in luxury mansions. Some rent as they often move clubs so don’t settle in one area for too long. However, many also invest in property as it’s seen as a sound investment in the long-term. Players such as former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler have build-up huge portfolio’s of investment properties in the UK. Many players also buy abroad with players purchasing multi-million pound villas all over the globe to enjoy during their holiday’s.
• Watches: Seen as an excellent investment by many, players also like to buy luxury watches such as Rolex’s and Hublot’s. The best makes hold their value incredibly well, with many increasing in value over the years.
• Holidays: Once the season is over, you’ll often see footballers head off on holiday to enjoy a well-earned break. They’ll spend thousands lapping up the sun in popular destinations such as Dubai, LA, Las Vegas, Mykonos, Miami and the Caribbean.
• Jewellery: Many top players are often spotted with millions of pounds worth of jewellery draped on them when they’re out and about. Chains, rings and ear rings are all popular with footballers.
• Stocks & shares: Footballers also invest their money via financial management companies. The majority of their money will be tied up in the stock market, as well as property and even crypto-currency.
• Technology & computers: Footballers love playing video games so their houses will be full of PC’s, consoles and iPads.

How do footballers relax away from football?

Footballers work hard, but they also have a lot of free time once they finish training or when they don’t have a match scheduled. Training can often finish by 2pm so players need to ensure they can wind down away from the pitch. Many will go shopping with their partner, relax at home watching TV, enjoy time with their friends or play video games to take their mind off the game. Video games such as Counter-Strike, Global Offensive are very popular with football players and many battle-it-out against each-other online during the evenings when they’re not playing football.

With all that money available to spend, footballers are not shy at splashing their cash on video game paraphernalia. In-game items and skins have become increasingly popular among the online gaming community and footballers will no doubt be using their millions to buy the latest must-haves. Players can use trading sites such as TradeIt.gg to buy and swap skins for games such as CS:GO. The site has been around for years so footballers don’t have to ask themselves the question “is tradeit.gg legit?” as the platform is extremely safe and secure.

There is a lot of money in popular video games these days and footballers are right at the heart of it all. Mesut Ozil was famously criticised by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for spending too much time playing video games in his spare time, while many fans have recalled the time they’ve played against their favourite footballer while playing online games.

With so much spare time on their hands and money to burn, some players like to enjoy themselves out at nightclubs but this can get them in trouble. There have been countless times when a famous player has been in the news for being too drunk while on a night out or even getting into fights.

So while managers like Wenger may not like his players to play video games until the early hours of the morning, surely that’s better than being in a club unable to stand straight?