Football players are amongst the very best paid athletes in most countries on this planet.
The sad reality, nevertheless, is that we retire experience many former professional footballers were terrible. In the sports media landscape, they were reported cases once-rich football players who went bankrupt shortly after retiring. Notable examples in Ghana include former Black Stars players Sammy Adjei, John Naawu, Joe Odoi, Prince Addu Poku and Amusa Gbadamoshie.
According to some scientists this unlucky situation is partly on account of the undeniable fact that the danger of falling right into a profession void is high. This is because, as with most sports, soccer provides skills that usually are not easily transferable to non-sporting competitions. The availability of jobs in football can also be very limited. Therefore, most football players earn very high incomes during their lively profession and face high income uncertainty after retirement.
Several of them also emphasized the life-style of football players (during lively play and after retirement). reports because the foremost reason for the financial mess some footballers got into.
Cases of irresponsible financial behavior by football players have been reported once more. Examples include gambling, spending on luxury brands, lavish parties and usually living an expensive and unsustainable lifestyle. An absence of monetary knowledge is usually related to any such financial behavior.
I’m professor accounting, who, along with others, carried out, amongst others, test to look at the extent of monetary knowledge of professional soccer players in Ghana and determine its impact on their financial behavior and financial situation.
We found a low level of monetary knowledge and poor financial behavior amongst football players. The results suggest that with a view to promote responsible financial behavior amongst soccer players, it’s crucial to extend their financial knowledge. We found very strong support for the argument that responsible financial behavior, replaced on this study by saving and investing behavior, is the important thing to achieving financial wellness in life.
Study design
Financial literacy has been described as the power to make use of the mandatory knowledge and skills to effectively manage one’s financial resources to enhance future well-being.
On the opposite hand, financial behavior might be described as “the ability to regulate planning, budgeting, checking, managing, controlling, retrieving and storing daily funds.” It covers spending and saving habits, borrowing patterns, budgeting and access to financial products.
We used questionnaires to survey 300 players who competed within the 2020 Ghana Premier League.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts: one dedicated to demographic details of respondents; the opposite about their financial knowledge, financial behavior and financial health.
Currently, the Ghana Premier League has 18 registered clubs. At the time of the study, these clubs employed 480 registered players. Compared to clubs in Europe, England, Asia and even many other parts of Africa, the online value of Ghanaian clubs may be very high Short. Revenues from international transfers – a very important source of funding for many Ghanaian clubs – have been very low through the years. For example, the Federation of International Association Football Associations (FIFA) in its 2021 report on international transfers recorded that over the past decade, Ghanaian football clubs have collectively made a net profit of just $50 million.
Football players’ finances
Our study showed that the soccer player population was largely young. Almost 90% were 30 years old or younger, much like footballers in other countries. This is to be expected as footballers are most lively during the perfect years of their careers. About 86% had some type of education, mostly as much as highschool level. Most respondents were married, and nearly 58% of them had at the least three dependents outside their family unit. Thus, most footballers provided care to their families, although 39% said they lived with their parents or friends. The average monthly net income of those footballers was GHS 2,000 ($177 on the time of the study), which is low in comparison with other professionals.
Overall, we found that soccer players had a low level of monetary literacy. They rated setting long-term goals highly, but their interest in searching for financial knowledge was very low. Not surprisingly, most players seemed unsure about how their money was being spent.
We found that football players generally didn’t show responsible financial behavior. Very few were all in favour of products equivalent to bonds, stocks, mutual funds and insurance policies. However, they seemed conscientious in comparing prices when purchasing a services or products in the shop.
Interestingly, the players were optimistic about their financial situation. Most respondents were confident in their ability to satisfy their current financial needs, had a really positive view of their future financial needs, and made decisions to enjoy life. The average footballer all the time hopes to get lucrative contracts in the longer term.
Better performance
Efforts to enhance your soccer players’ financial situation can start by investing in training programs that may help them gain financial literacy. Secondly, football clubs can engage financial coaches to supply players with practical guidance during their lively playing days to assist shape their financial behaviour.
Given that financial prosperity is near related with mental well-being, such initiatives could have a positive impact on players’ performance on the pitch.
