Referees are not just authority figures within the football field. They have the power to influence an entire match with their decisions and this is the reason that more and more sports bettors take them into consideration before they pick their bets. In fact, bettors often search for the referees’ backgrounds, styles and common practices within the field or even their implied preferences, so that they can advance their decisions and make more sophisticated choices in staking, whether this is done in an online bookmaker in Europe or a betting site in the Philippines using gcash!
The fact that referees have the power to influence how an entire match will progress is often very disturbing. We’ve seen so many times the final score being shaped by the decisions made by the referees and the entire football community -the fans, the audiences, the players or even the managers themselves – getting on their feet to accuse and blame them for wrongdoing.
Their job is not easy. On the contrary, their job is demanding, tough and sometimes cruel and that’s why they are often the ones who get attacked by fans and players alike. And even if their job lasts for approximately one and a half hours, the stress and the anxiety of making decisions that may put millions at risk (including money that has been wagered on betting sites) justifies the fact that they make a lot of money.
Let’s see how much referees make in the major European leagues.
La Liga
La Liga’s referees are the highest-paid football officials across all the European leagues. They get an annual salary of nearly €250.000 (some of them exceed this number by far, especially if they are popular referees) which means that on a monthly basis, they earn almost €12.500.
Their salary per game is €4.200, while for every Champions League match they get a total of €7.000.
On average each referee in the Spanish La Liga officiates 20 matches per year.
English Premier League
The monthly salary of referees in the Premier League amounts to €3.700 and nearly €1.300 per game while for their job in a Champions League game, they also earn €7.000. On average each referee officiates 25 games per year (some may do more than this number). On a yearly basis, the referees in the EPL earn approximately €110.000.
Serie A
The Italian referees are somewhere in the middle between the EPL and La Liga. They earn nearly €140.000 a year, with €3.400 per game and a monthly salary that ranges between €4.000 and €6.500, depending on the experience and the status of the official. They undertake on average 16 matches every year and when they officiate in the Champions League they receive the same amount as their English and Spanish counterparts.
Bundesliga
The German Bundesliga pays its officials good salaries as well. Each referee gets to officiate almost 20 matches per year and earns an annual salary of €125.000. On a monthly basis, the German referees can make something between €2.500 and €6.000, always depending on the status.
Ligue 1
The referees in the French Ligue 1 receive almost €2.900 for each game they officiate, while their monthly salary reaches almost €6.000. Usually, they attend 23 matches on average per year and their yearly earnings amount to €120.000. Just like everybody else, they get €7.000 for being in charge in a Champions League match.
Primeira Liga
In Portugal, the salaries are relatively low, compared to the rest of the top European football countries. The referees in the Primeira Liga get a monthly salary that ranges between €750 and €2.500, while for every game they receive €1.500. On an annual basis, their salary reaches €30.000 and they work approximately 3 days/week.
Well, maybe it seems a lot of money to be given to some football officials for a job that may last only a few hours. But just think that the referees are the only officials in football who are paid so low (!) compared to every other official in the sport!