Unfortunately, the Brazilian economic reality is such that the best players never stay in the country for too long. The most glaring demonstration of this are the salaries of players.
If we take figures from Revista Placar published in November 2006, and use todays's exchange rate, i.e. 1 British Pound = 1.95 US Dollars = 4.12 Brazilian Reais
then the best paid Brazilian players in 2006 were (in monthly salary figures and weekly figures in brackets):- Ze Roberto (Santos, ex- Bayern Munich) £121,360 (c. £28k/ week)
- Petkovic (Fluminense) & Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo) £72,815-£84,950 (c. £17-£20k/week)
- Amoroso, Roger (Corinthians), Fabio Costa, Kleber, Maldonado (all Santos) £43,670-£53,400 (c. £1ok-£12k/ week)
- Carlos Alberto (Corinthians, ex-Porto), Juninho Paulista (Palmeiras, ex-Celtic & Middlesborough), Magrao (Corinthians), Marcos (Palmeiras), Savio (Flamengo) £36,400-£43,690 (£9k-£10k/week)
- Cesar Ramirez (Flamengo), Elber (Cruzeiro), Fernandao (Inter Porto Alegre), Pedrinho, Roger (Fluminense), Renato (Flamengo) £24,270-£29,120 (£6k-£7k/ week)
- Clemer (Inter Porto Alegre), Danilo, Mineiro (Sao Paulo), Gabriel (Cruzeiro) £19,410-£21,840 (£4.5k-£5k/week)
Some of the top players in the English Second or even Third Division earn up to £150-£200k a year (£3-£4k/ week). This is high compared to the average salary in Great Britain (£25,800 according to the The United Kingdom's Statistics Annual Survey on Earnings http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/ashe1006.pdf) - that is £500 per week.
So the Chelsea footballer Michael Ballack earns in 1 week fives (5x!!) more than the average person in Britain earns in 1 year. His salary is a staggering £129k per week.
Clearly, there is a divide between Brazil and Europe in economic terms, when even players in the English Second or Third Division earn as much as some of the top players in Brazil. The only question is: for how long can Brazil continue to produce players of good enough quality to maintain its public interested in the local league?
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