PREMIER LEAGUE referees are earning way less than their European counterparts, with some forced to travel abroad to earn more dosh.
English officials are under the spotlight after last weekend’s VAR disaster during Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham.
Darren England was the man behind the tech as he failed to let Luis Diaz’s legal goal to stand.
It emerged afterwards that he had only just returned from the UAE, having a officiated a game there.
And based on the salary for Premier League officials compared to other European refs, going abroad appears to be a good way to make some pocket money.
Top-flight names like England, Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver receive a base salary of around £42,000.
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For each individual game as the main ref, officials will also pocket £1,500.
This drops to £850 while working as an assistant or on VAR.
If a referee takes charge of 20 games each season, that works out at £30k.
Another 20 matches on VAR comes to £17k.
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And that makes for a grand annual total salary of £89k.
But while it sounds like a lot, it’s just pennies compared with the riches on offer in Italy.
In Serie A, referees get a base salary of £48k – and the incentives for matches are even greater.
Officials can pocket a staggering £3,300 for each game – and £1,300 to work with VAR.
If a ref had 20 games of each, that would work out at £66k, with VAR officials earning £26k.
That would make for a total salary of £140k – £51k more than refs in the Premier League get.
However, both England and Italy pale in comparison with Spain.
The base annual salary for refs in LaLiga is £130k.
Each game as an official is worth £3,600 – working out at £72k for 20 matches.
VAR is worth £1,800 a pop for a total of £36k across 20 games.
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And that brings in a mind-blowing total annual salary of nearly £240k – £151k more than Premier League refs.
In addition, any officials deemed worthy of officiating in the Champions League will take home an extra £6k per game – making for a tasty pay day.
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