Wages and wage budget

Wages are the biggest recurring cost at every club. They're paid weekly in the finance pulse and they don't pause — a player on the bench costs the same as a player playing every minute. The wage budget set by the board is the target you should respect, although you can exceed it temporarily.

How wages are calculated

A player's wage follows his market value: a professional earns about 1/400 of it every week. Below that the share shrinks — semi-professionals earn a fraction of it and the amateurs at the foot of the pyramid little more than their expenses, from 5 a week. In a strong football nation a whole division-10 squad costs around 180 a week, division 7 about 1,100, division 5 about 6,500, division 4 about 14,000 and division 3 about 30,000; a division-1 squad costs over 160,000. Weaker football nations pay less at every level, exactly as the real game does.

Wage budget

The wage budget on the Finances screen is about 1.15 times the typical wage bill of your division — the room an ordinary club of your level has. Staying under it keeps the books balanced — wages leave in the weekly pulse, and the steadiest income arriving there is sponsorship. Exceeding it by 10% triggers a warning, and exceeding it by 25% or more for an extended period damages board confidence and can block transfer activity.

Negotiating wages

The wage is where a signing is won or lost. When you sign a player from another club, the salary you name in the proposal is what he joins on — leave it blank and he keeps his current wage — and a renewal weighs your offer against the wage the player already earns. There is no goal, appearance or clean-sheet bonus to hide wage costs behind, and no signing bonus in the reachable flows either: the weekly wage is the weekly wage.

Hidden costs

• Coaching and scouting staff also draw weekly wages in the same pulse as the players. A coach's wage never falls below a floor — about 60 a week for the weakest, 360 for the best — so the amateur clubs at the foot of the pyramid usually run on volunteers until they climb.
• Every week of the season is charged, including the weeks you do not play — the pulse runs regardless of fixtures.
• Loaned-out players whose wages you partially cover continue to drain — check loan terms carefully.