Nigeria Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong, has revealed that professional football players don’t receive their paycheck weekly as opposed to dominant thoughts among football fans.
Speaking on the ‘Zero Conditions’ podcast, Ekong, who led the Super Eagles of Nigeria to 2023 AFCON Final, said professional footballer’s earnings are calculated weekly but not paid weekly as many players believe.
He also added that how players’ are paid differs across leagues around the world while stressing he is speaking based on his experience.
The program’s co-host, Tunde Young asked: “Do professional footballers get paid weekly like everybody in Nigeria believes?”
“No. Some countries they calculate weekly but from what I know, I can only speak for myself, you won’t see anything on weekly basis. It’s not like you’re getting alerts every week,” Ekong replied.
William-Troost Ekong boasts a wealth of experience having played across top leagues in Europe.
He has played in the Dutch league, Belgian, Norwegian, Turkish, Serie A, England, and now in the Greek league.
The Nigeria international’s comment on the wage payment system for professional footballers contrasts what an average football fan understands about how players are paid.
In the media, players’ earnings with their respective clubs are calculated every week. So, the general paradigm among football enthusiasts is that these players bag their paychecks weekly.
However, as confirmed by the POAK center-back, payment systems differ across each league, hence there could be leagues who are dolling out the wages every week. But top leagues like the Premier League, Eredivisie, Belgian Pro League, Greek Super Lig, Norwegian League, and Serie A are not among them, according to Ekong.
