A recent report from UK-based salary benchmarking firm Emolument.com highlights the extremely generous salaries enjoyed by employees of soccer’s international supervisory body FIFA. It seems appropriate to review the compensation of FIFA employees given the unfolding bribery scandal so we can all appreciate just how much these ridiculously highly paid execs needed the cash from the bribes for the payments on their sailboats and annual trips to Monaco and the Riviera.
A comparative look at FIFA salaries
Of note, Emolument examined salary data from 2,700 banking, hedge funds and non-profit-corporations employees for its report. FIFA and UEFA salary figures were taken directly from FIFA and UEFA annual reports.
According to Emolument’s research, FIFA employees earn an average annual salary of $242,000. That means that FIFA pays its employees a full 25% more than banks or brokerages, and FIFA employees even make 34% more than notoriously highly paid hedge funds professionals.
Moreover, FIFA salaries are not even in the same ballpark as other non-profit organizations. To give you some perspective, 2014 FIFA salaries are 3.7 times higher than the $66,000 average salary for non-profit organizations, and 37% higher than the already generous annual compensation at UEFA.
Amazingly, these salary figures do not even include bonuses. Including their large bonuses, traders earned an average $377,000 last year, but FIFA has been said to have also paid large bonuses this year, so it is likely the soccer organization’s execs made at least close to that amount in total annual compensation.
Statement from Alice Leguay from Emolument.com
Alice Leguay from Emolument.com offered a tongue in cheek comment on the shockingly large salaries FIFA pays its employees: ‘Financial industry professionals must be breathing a sigh of relief that FIFA remuneration is hogging all the limelight. The abyss between FIFA and the average NPC is simply staggering, beyond the simple fact that these employees made more than traders who are often pointed out as the epitome of greed.’
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