By Chris Broadfoot, founder of SportsFX
In this edition
A US athlete paid in euros with a €500,000-plus bonus due in December, what EUR/USD has done over the last 12 months, a sports lawyer on what to check before you go unpaid, a player who turned down a reported US$20 million a year and ended up with US$200 million guaranteed, and the Indonesia squad, most of them naturalised, that won the first FIFA ASEAN Cup.
THE STORY
Paid in euros. Living in dollars. And a €500,000 bonus due in December.
€1.5 million a season. That is the scale of the contract a US athlete now playing in Europe walked me through on a recent call.
The salary is paid in euros into a local European bank. Their investments, and the life they are building after sport, are in US dollars, so most of that money needs to get home to a US account. The first month's salary is around €60,000. After that it is about €100,000 a month. And in December there is a signing bonus of €500,000-plus that they want home quickly.
The call started where these calls usually start. What is the rate today, and what does the bank charge? The bank fee turned out to be small, about €90 at most per transfer. That is not where the money is.
The money is in the exchange rate. On €100,000, one cent on EUR/USD is US$1,000. On the December bonus, taking €550,000 as the middle of the range, one cent is US$5,500. Across a €1.5 million season it is US$15,000.
The rate moves a lot more than one cent.
In 2025 the euro went up. This year it has come back down. It moves both ways, and on a contract this size, both directions matter.
2025: euro up | 2026: euro down | |
|---|---|---|
From | 1.0178 (13 Jan 2025) | 1.2083 (27 Jan 2026) |
To | 1.1919 (17 Sep 2025) | 1.1161 (5 Oct 2026) |
Move | 17.4 cents (about 17%) | 9.2 cents (about 7.6%) |
What that means in US dollars
One 9.2 cent move (like this year's fall) | One 17.4 cent move (like the 2025 swing) | |
|---|---|---|
€100,000 month | US$9,200 | US$17,400 |
€550,000 bonus | US$51,000 | US$96,000 |
€1.5 million season | US$138,000 | US$261,000 |
A lot can move between now and December, and it has before. In the week to Friday 2 October, EUR/USD fell about 1.2%, its fourth weekly fall in a row.
Monex, a currency provider, puts that down to French budget and government bond stress and Brent crude above US$100 a barrel. Third-party forecasts sit roughly between 1.09 and 1.16. On a €1.5 million season, a seven-cent range like that is about US$105,000 of uncertainty. I am not making a call on which way it goes.
So instead of asking what the rate is today, we looked at a plan. This is the shape of it.
Fix 50% to 70% of the money you already know is coming. A forward contract can lock a rate today for a set amount on a future date, for example the December bonus or a run of monthly salaries. That takes the downside off that part. It also gives up the upside on that part if the euro rises.
Leave about 30% open. That part is converted over time against target levels agreed in advance, so if the rate improves, some of the season still benefits.
Convert on a plan, not on payday. The salary still lands in euros as normal. Conversions happen on the dates and amounts the plan sets, and the route home for the December bonus is set up before it arrives, so it can move quickly.
Review it every month, as bonuses, contracts or investment needs change.
We put together a short report for them that sets every known payment against how far EUR/USD has actually moved, so they and their advisers can see the dollar value at stake before deciding how much to protect. The aim is not to beat the market. It is to know what most of the season is worth in dollars before it lands.
The dollar figures here are simple illustrations, not quotes and not a forecast, and none of this is tax, legal or investment advice.
If you are paid in one currency and building your life in another, reply and I will run your numbers.
THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
Last week in currency (28 September to 2 October)
The US dollar was the strong one last week. The euro fell for a fourth week in a row, and the Australian dollar slipped after the RBA rate rise.
EUR/USD: high 1.1391 (Mon), low 1.1215 (Thu). On Monday this week it dropped to 1.1161, its lowest since May 2025.
GBP/USD: high 1.3311 (Wed), low 1.3181 (Thu). Close to flat for the week.
USD/AUD: high 1.4484 (Thu), low 1.4206 (Mon). It cost more Aussie dollars to buy a US dollar by the end of the week.
EUR/AUD: high 1.6335 (Wed), low 1.6136 (Fri).
GBP/AUD: high 1.9116 (Thu), low 1.8833 (Mon).
Coming up
US: Fed minutes Wed 7 Oct, inflation Wed 14 Oct, rate decision 28 Oct.
Europe: ECB rate decision 29 Oct.
UK: growth figures Thu 15 Oct, Budget 28 Oct.
Australia: RBA minutes Tue 13 Oct.
I recorded two short chart videos on Thursday 1 October: one on EUR/USD falling to its lowest level since May 2025, and one on why the Australian dollar fell after the RBA's rate rise.
This week I wanted to recommend: Wispr Flow
I use this every day. Wispr Flow lets you talk instead of type, in any app on your phone or laptop: email, WhatsApp, notes, even ChatGPT. You speak naturally and it tidies up as you go. It takes out the ums, catches it when you change your mind mid-sentence, and adds the punctuation, so it reads like you wrote it.
For athletes who live on planes, team buses and in hotel rooms, that's the win. You can reply to your agent, message family back home, or get an idea down after training without sitting at a keyboard. Wispr says it's 4x faster than typing. For me it means getting a lot more done in a day.
It works on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, and in more than 100 languages, which helps if you're playing somewhere English isn't the first language. There's a free plan, and if you sign up through my link you get your first month of Pro free.
I'm now somehow in the top 1% of users, so you can get a free month below.
FROM THE SPECIALISTS
Matt Krog, sports lawyer, founder of Aus Sports Law
Three or four steps. That is what Matt Krog wants to see in a contract between a dispute starting and anyone reaching a binding decision. Matt, a sports lawyer on the Gold Coast, told me that when you sign an overseas deal you should look at what happens if you are not paid on time. A good contract sets out a dispute notice, time to negotiate, then mediation or arbitration. If it is not in the contract itself, check the league rules and bylaws you agree to follow, because that is often where it sits. “In the absence of a dispute resolution procedure, it's quite messy. The parties don't know what they need to do and no one's compelled really to do anything.”
AROUND THE GAME
Front Office Sports, Afternoon Edition, 2 October
Jalen Duren turned down a reported US$20 million a year from the Detroit Pistons last year. After an All-Star season he signed for five years and US$200 million, fully guaranteed, hours before his US$9.6 million one-year offer expired. Worth a read if you are weighing a guaranteed deal against a shorter one.
Source: Front Office Sports. Read it at Front Office Sports (free to read)
FIFA ASEAN Cup final, Jakarta, 5 October
Indonesia won the first FIFA ASEAN Cup on Monday, beating Thailand 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Jakarta. The Straits Times reports that 17 of coach John Herdman's 23 players were naturalised. Football360 lists 13 of the squad as coming from the Netherlands and two from Australia, including Melbourne-born striker Mitchell Baker, who qualifies through his mother and became an Indonesian citizen in July.
Players who grew up and built careers in one country are choosing to play for another through a parent or grandparent. If that could be you, the eligibility rules, the passport and the timing matter as much as the call-up, and your career and your money may end up spread across more than one country.
Sources: CNA, The Straits Times, Football360. Read the final report at CNA (free to read)
Thanks for reading. If you know a player about to sign overseas, send them this before they sign.
Chris Broadfoot
Founder, SportsFX
Got a currency question? Reply with the currency, amount and date, or book a call.
Or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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