Referees’ Salary

In a massive worldwide tournament like the FIFA World Cup, quite a lot of money is invested in things associated with it. This money comes mainly from sponsorships and advertising, because the whole event is super expensive and none of them teams could possibly afford to play it out of their pocket.

One of those expenses are referees and back in 2017, the Italian press unveiled a list of all the refs scheduled to participate in the World Cup and what they are getting paid for to do so. There’s quite a few of them too with a healthy mixture of nationalities.

Because the FIFA World Cup is one of the most anticipated sporting events in the world, the organisation only hires the best of the best when it comes to referees. Those salaries are going to be pretty fat. So, let’s take a look at those juicy figures and see just how much all the refs are being paid.

How Much Do FIFA World Cup Referees Earn?

In this particular World Cup, especially considering how many people will be watching, being a referee is quite a nice way to earn some money. They obviously don’t get as much as the players themselves but it’s stull quite a bit.

So how much do they earn exactly, or how much will they earn by the time of the tournament? Well, the precise figure for the 2018 World Cup is $70,000 (about £52,000). Think about it. That’s an entire year’s salary in just under a month. And that’s not even going into the fact that each referee earns about an extra $3,000 (£2,200) for each match they take part in.

This sharply contrasts with the Championship League whose own refs take away about 20% more than the referees in the World Cup do. It’s a still a substantial amount of money, though, especially when you consider that the standard salary was $50,000 in the 2010 World Cup.

Who Exactly Are The Referees?

Below is an entire list of every referee who is scheduled to play in the FIFA World Cup 2018 and all of them are an elite group who will take away the same salary:

So, these are the best of the best, meaning they will all be treated equal in getting that £52,000 salary plus that extra £2,200 for all the matches they referee in.

Could Referees Earn More Cash?

All referees in the World Cup have the potential to earn much more if they cover matches outside the cup as well as inside it. It’s an excellent way to earn money and it may even give a few of you some ideas for your future career.