Premiership players cash in

Players such as David Beckham are the top earners

England's top footballers net £400,000 a year on average, a survey reveals.

The basic salary for Premiership players aged over 20 is £409,000 a year, or nearly £8,000 a week, reports the Independent.

More than one in three - 36% - of players in the same age group earn more than £500,000 a year.

Footballers' pay

9% earn more than £1m

36% earn more than £500,000

Other top players earn £409,000

Senior First Division players earn £128,000

Trainees earn £19,000 - £45,000

And 9% - about 100 players - earn more than £1m a year.

The survey - the largest done on professional footballers in England - was based on the answers of nearly 600 players, who responded on a confidential basis.

It is the first time players have given their own answers on their pay rates. The survey was carried out by the Independent and the players' union the PFA.

The results also revealed how, at the other end of the pay scale, young players and trainees aged between 17 and 20 earn between £19,000 and £45,000 a year on average.

Divisions divide

And the high pay levels among top footballers are not matched by their counterparts in the three divisions of the Nationwide League.

Senior First Division players earn £128,000 a year on average, while their colleagues in the Second and Third Divisions earn £52,000 and £37,000 a year respectively.

The youngest players in each division earn as little as £3,000 a year.

Of all non-Premiership players, 65% agreed that wages were the major factor in clubs' financial problems. In the Premiership, the figure was 47%.

Since the Premiership breakaway from the rest of the Football League in 1992, the top clubs' incomes have soared.