Premier League Referees – How Much They Get Paid?
Referees from the top-level received a lot of negative attitude towards them from managers, fans and players, but have you ever asked yourself how much they get paid for all these troubles?
Probably being a referee, it’s one of the most challenging and most responsible jobs in football. For every decision you are taking you will be analysed and judged by managers, players and fans. With the invention of VAR, they thought that referees job would be much easier, but unfortunately, they made even more difficult for them.
The Premier League known as the best League in the world with the best players performing week out a week in there must be the best referees as well. For example, some of the best referees here have gone on to officiate in World Cups and European Championships. They are also making a record in referees and football history like Howard Web who is the first person to referee both Champions League final and World Cup final in the same year. But Let’s not waste time and find out how much they get paid for their so tricky job.
How Much Do Referees Get Paid In UK?
It all depends on from the level you are at. Referees from lower leagues in the UK don’t get the huge salaries that their colleagues from top tiers earn. In amateur football, they are paid on a game by game basis, and they make between £20 to £40 per game, depending on the local associations. While at a semi-professional level the sum per game increase to £80 per game plus expenses covered by the local associations.
Switching to the top-level referees, they get a regular salary with match fees on the top of that which can year them up to £70,000 a year if they officiate few games. They usually get paid a basis yearly retainer of £38,000 to £42,000 based on their experience plus £1,150 per game and all expenses.
Referees in the Championship are receiving the same basis yearly retainer wage but being paid only £600 per game.
Referees Wages Abroad.
Unlike Premier League, the rest of Europa top leagues referees are paid on a game by game basis.
For little surprise for all of us, La Liga pays the highest match rate in European leagues with referees getting 6,000 euro per game which is equivalent to £5,200 — followed by Italy and Germany, France and Portugal.
- La Liga – £5,200 per game
- Bundesliga – £3,150 per game
- Seria A – £3,000 per game
- Ligue 1 – £2,400
- Portuguese Premiera – £1,000
In the Champions League, things stay a little bit more different. How much referee will get paid there depends on from their experience. If you a referee from the Elite tier, you will be getting around £5,500 per game. If you are from the Elite Development tier, you will be earning the modest sum of £3,800 per game, and if you are from the bottom levels the amount of money you will be getting it’s the shameful £700 per game.
Top Of The Ice Cream – World Cup
The World Cup, the most popular football competition in the world. The dream of every player and also the dream of every football referee in terms of money.
During the World Cup, 36 referees are chosen from across the globe. The selection it’s based on each referee skills, personality, as well as their understanding of football, and ability to read the game.
Without FIFA releasing the payments, unofficially UOL ESPORTE says each referee will be paid $70,000, with a further $3,000 for each game they officiate.
So think again if you doubted whether to become a referee or not. You might not get so famous, but indeed if you reach to the top-level, you will be much richer.
Inequality Between Female and Male Referees!
With the rapid development of women football, there are more and more female referees officiating major games in prestigious League and International competitions. Subjected under the same criteria and scrutiny, female referees get 20 times less than their male’s colleagues for the same job they do.
Turning out in front of the crowds of more than 30,000 at Etihad or 25,000 at Stamford Bridge as happened already last year and receive a sum of the order of £120 it’s a bit unfair considering referees such as Mike Dean, earn a basic salary in the region of £42,500 per year.
Another thing without they have to manage is the lack of weekly retainer, receive no sick, illness or childcare benefits, and at the same time, they have to meet the same fitness levels as officials in the Football League to qualify for the job.
Do you think that referees are being paid enough? And is it fair the wage gap between both genders? Share your opinion in the comments down below.
Petar Leykov
It is so great to see women in this field. Unfortunately it is still the way it is with lower wages for women. I see it in so many industries. I’m hoping this will change when my daughters hit the working world!
Unfortunately, this is the sad truth about the inequality between both genres, and I hope that in future this will change and there won’t be any differences between women and man in any sector or sport.
Hey thank you for the awesome post! This is very informative and it’s nice to see that actually referees don’t get paid all that much if you ask me. Their job has to be stressful, and I’m sure a lot of people end up mad at some of the decisions they make, so I feel they should be paid at least a little more, even if it is based off game by game, and not the total salary.
Thank you, Jessie, for your comment. To be honest the referees in at the top level they are not underpaid, but the one at the lower levels have to receive more than they get because as you said the stress it’s far too big and the pressure on them it’s enormous.
Thanks a lot for such an amazing review about Premier League Referees – How Much They Get Paid? and explanations are given.
A few days ago I was at my dad’s table, watching a football game, and I was talking about how much a referee wins. I have read many articles about it on the internet, but this is the best I have read. I think their pay is high.
Thanks again and keep in touch!
Thank you a lot Razvan. They get a decent amount of money, but only the top referees get that. The one in the lower levels are far from the money elite referees get paid.
Those are decent numbers. Up to £70K per year in the UK; That’s not too bad. They definitely work for it, but I think it’s incredibly unfair that the female refs make an average of 20X less than the males! I just don’t understand the logic because they are performing the same exact job. If a male and female ref have the same amount of experience and workload, they should be given relatively the same pay.
I agree with that opinion of yours but unfortunately the wage gap between them it’s still huge. The fact that you are female referee doesn’t make you less capable and skilfull, but sadly so far there is nothing done about it. Hopefully, with the development of women football, the wage rates will equalise in future, and there won’t be a gap between both genders.
Hiya Petar
I know nothing about football so your article was all news to me and to my surprise I was fascinated. I had no idea the salaries for referees differed so wildly. Ngl I was unsurprised to find another example of inequality of wages between men and women.
Is it worth women bothering to sign up? Do you think the situation might improve in the future as more women enter the sport? Is there a similar wage gap in other sports for referees of different calibres? Thank you for a hugely informative and enjoyable read, krs PurpleLioness
Hi PurpleLioness. I hope that in near future the gap between genders will equalise and especially with female football getting more popular day by day and the football associations will apply the same rules to female referees. About other sports, I am not aware of their wages but I assume that there will be a gap between both genders as well.
Hello Petar. Nice to see you share this post showing us how much Premier League referees get as payments. Indeed referees go through a lot during gameplay. They make hard decisions that may sometimes attract the players, referees and even fans critics. So sad to see that low level referees don’t make good amount of money but the high level ones are really having some nice time being referees. I love this by the way.
Regards!
Thank you for the comment. Definitely the top referees enjoy their job although they have a lot of stress, but also they have the privilege to participate and be one of the leading faces in essential games and competitions. But the lower-level referees don’t deserve that because they do the same job and receive crap money for their job.