The Footballer Millionaire Myth

Quick Read:

• The Reality Check: High wages often create bigger risks through lifestyle inflation and poor decision-making

• Commercial Cost: Player scandals hurt clubs, sponsors, and entire leagues. Not just the individual

• Global Gap: Football lags behind NBA/NFL in mandatory financial education programmes

• Business Impact: 75% of European club revenue comes from commercial deals tied to player reputation

• Action Required: Clubs, sponsors, and advisors need proactive risk management strategies

SPOTLIGHT: The Fix Is Already Here

In Conversation with Patrick Foley, Founder of Sonar Financial Services

We caught up with Patrick Foley, whose firm Sonar Financial Services has been quietly revolutionising how athletes approach money management. His client list reads like a who's who of professional sport, but his philosophy is refreshingly simple: treat athletes like humans, not ATMs.

1. Over the past 5 years, how has the financial literacy or investment appetite of footballers changed—and what signal does that send to clubs, agents, and the wider football economy?

Over the past five years, we’ve seen players take far greater ownership of their financial futures—asking more questions, pushing for clarity, and challenging assumptions. That reflects our commitment at Sonar to remove the complexity. Players no longer want to be spoken at—they want to understand, engage, and take informed decisions.

This shift signals that financial education is now performance critical. Clubs and agents need to continue to embrace that mindset too. The teams that do will help create longer, healthier careers—and financially stable futures beyond football.

2. What’s one financial misconception you see repeated in the football world, from the academy level to the elite tier?

The biggest myth is that high earnings guarantee long-term security. A Premier League contract doesn’t make you financially bulletproof—it just raises the stakes.

Over the years we have taken on some players with large salaries at a young age  but experience cashflow stress because of lifestyle inflation, poor structuring, or emotional commitments to friends and family. At Sonar, we aim to do the right thing by acting as a filter. We help players slow down emotionally driven decisions and build clarity around what their money can sustainably do for them—not just today, but years from now. 

3. Can you share a moment when a client decision surprised you—good or bad—and what it taught you about how footballers view money?

One moment that stands out was when we first started working with a very young player, he was very nervous about investing and understandably so as he had never done it before. We walked him through it all but he was checking his investment account every day which wasn’t good for him. We worked hard around the education piece of investing and about it being for the long term. It was refreshing to get a call from him when the pandemic hit saying, “this is a good time to add more money to the pot as markets have dipped and there is a sale on right?”. Being only 24 at this stage he still had 10 years + before he needed access to the money and added to his investment account which has worked out fantastically well for him. This was a proud moment for us as it showed the education around money and investing correctly was working and it was a nice surprise to get that phone call!

4. What was your path into this niche? Why footballers, and what keeps you in it?

I started in a sports division of a private bank which gave me fantastic exposure to the football world. After a number of years of soaking up the knowledge I realised I wanted to work directly for the clients rather than for the bank and took the leap in 2016 to do just that.  Footballers needed a different model in my opinion: responsive, relevant, and fiercely honest without conflicts of interest.

What keeps me in it is impact. At Sonar, we’re accountable—our advice is tailored, transparent, and built around each player’s actual life, not a spreadsheet. We love helping clients create security and legacy in an industry that often offers neither.

5. What are the biggest risks footballers face that go unnoticed or underestimated—whether financial, reputational, or regulatory?

Reputational and regulatory risk are often underestimated. A single social media post or risky offshore structure can unravel quickly. Players are targets—whether it’s from “mates” pushing deals, tax exposure, or PR fallout. At Sonar, we act with integrity by proactively highlighting the risks players don’t always see. It’s not about scaring them—it’s about making them the most informed person in the room when it matters most. 

6. How do you balance long-term planning with short-term career volatility, especially when a player might get injured or transferred tomorrow?

We design financial plans with volatility in mind. That means building a strong cash buffer, stress-testing plans against injury or transfers, and only introducing longer-term investments backed by a foundation of a strong football contract.

 Sonar’s philosophy is to challenge and collaborate with every client. We constantly re-evaluate their plan to make sure it reflects the reality of their career—not just the optimism of it.

7. If you could change one thing about the ecosystem that surrounds footballers’ financial lives, what would it be and why hasn’t it happened yet?

I’d introduce mandatory financial education across academies and senior teams. Players are expected to act like CEOs with no training—and that’s a gap that still hasn’t been closed.

It hasn’t happened because financial wellbeing still isn’t seen as performance-critical—but it is. At Sonar, we believe clubs should build relationships with the right specialists, treating financial support the same way they treat nutrition or mental health: as part of the player’s success toolkit.