New Data: Check out Charlotte FC's Player Salaries
New winger Liel Abada is Charlotte FC's highest paid player at $2.3 million; key contributors Patrick Agyemang and Andrew Privett make MLS's minimum salary.
Earlier this week, Soccer Sheet obtained the salary figures for Charlotte FC as of April 2024. You can check out our spreadsheet here.
Top Ten Salaries
Below are Charlotte FC’s Top 10 Salaries as of April 2024. These do not include guaranteed compensation or transfer fees, just the base salary paid to the player.
Liel Abada - $2,300,000.00
Karol Świderski (on loan) - $2,200,000.00
Enzo Copetti (departing) - $1,000,000.00
Brecht Dejaegere - $1,000,000.00
Ashley Westwood - $750,000.00
Nathan Byrne - $560,000.00
Kristijan Kahlina - $550,000.00
Jere Uronen - $525,000.00
Bill Tuiloma - $460,000.00
Scott Arfield - $450,000.00
Biggest Raises
Below are the top ten raises by percentage since the September 2023 salary release. Raises can be the result of new contracts, incentives, or existing contract terms. Note that the below list only includes players on Charlotte FC’s roster in both September 2023 and April 2024, and only includes changes in base salary.
Brian Romero - $32,640.00 (48.46%)
Ben Bender - $29,556.00 (34.59%)
Nimfasha Berchimas - $22,356.00 (33.19%)
Brandon Cambridge - $22,356.00 (33.19%)
Hamady Diop - $22,356.00 (33.19%)
George Marks - $20,941.00 (30.45%)
Brecht Dejaegere - $180,000.00 (21.95%)
Adilson Malanda - $50,000.00 (18.18%)
Jere Uronen - $75,000.00 (16.67%)
Brandt Bronico - $40,000.00 (12.90%)
Additionally, the above list does not include contract renegotiations since April, including Kerwin Vargas’ new contract announced on May 9.
Minimum Base Salary
In 2023, the minimum base salary for MLS players was $67,360.00; in 2024, the minimum increased to $71,401.00. Many players still on “rookie contracts” - including key contributors Patrick Agyemang and Andrew Privett - are being paid the minimum this year.
Key Takeaways
It’s no surprise that Liel Abada is Charlotte’s highest-paid player after commanding a transfer fee of approximately $8 million, but casual fans may be surprised at how little rookie players earn. Charlotte FC exercised the contract options of Patrick Agyemang, Ben Bender, Hamady Diop, George Marks, Andrew Privett and Nick Scardina at the end of last year, and many of them have only seen a pay increase due to the increase in MLS’s minimum wage.
It’s hard not to notice that Charlotte’s top scorer so far this year, Patrick Agyemang, is only paid $71,401.00. Though it’s a gross oversimplification, that comes out to $23,800 per goal with more to come. On the other hand, departing player Enzo Copetti was earning $1 million in base salary, making his one goal incredibly expensive for the Crown.
Six of Charlotte’s top 15 highest-paid players are defensive players (not counting bottles of wine from Dean Smith). Malanda, Uronen, Lindsey, and Kahlina all received pay bumps of 10% or more; Tuiloma received a 5% increase while Byrne’s salary remained steady. The success of Charlotte’s back line is the club’s story of the year so far,
Earlier in the year, some Charlotte FC observers were surprised Brecht Dejaegere occupied a designated player spot, but that change makes more sense since he had the largest year over year raise ($180,000) in dollar terms.
Finally, with both Copetti and Świderski likely coming off the payroll in the coming weeks, Charlotte will have significant resources open up to pay new players during the summer transfer window.
Your thoughts
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If Agyemang keeps his current pace, the only question will be how many zeroes will be in his next contract.