She is the first goalkeeper and has a professional contract with Røa. In addition to her football venture, she works as an educational manager in Lysejordt barehage. Otherwise, everyday life would not go well. – At times it is very demanding because I have two jobs that require me to be very present, she says. In the nursery, Linn-Mari wreaks havoc with the children. She has done that since seven o’clock. I work 200 per cent, while an elite league player has 100 per cent work. Linn-Mari For Peter Reinhardsen, everyday life is different. He started as a full-time player around 5 years ago and is living out his boyhood dream. As a defender at Sarpsborg 08, he receives enough salary to live on. At approximately the same time that Linn-Mari eats lunch with the children, Peter is served lunch at the Sarpsborg stadium. For Peter, he lives an everyday life where he can put football before everything else. – It is important. We have a very good arrangement here and a very professional club. The overall picture is that you feel like a professional, and you are very well organised, says Reinhardsen. – What would life be like if you had to work or similar? – I think it would have been heavier. Absolutely. – Not close Since 2017, better finances in the Toppserien for women have led to higher salaries and more people on professional contracts. But even if they are professionals, there are many who cannot make a living from football. The contrast to the male players in the Eliteserien is great. This is shown by figures obtained by news after a survey of all ten clubs in the Toppserien. The graphic above shows a starting eleven in an average top league team, as illustrated they have a very varied everyday life. Nevertheless, it is also going in the right direction for women who bet on football in the Toppserien. Hege Jørgensen notes that. She is the general manager of Toppfotball Kvinner, the interest organization for the clubs in the two top divisions. – Both the average salary and the salary budgets are increasing and the total budgets are increasing. So it has gone very much in the right direction. Considering the development of the last 10–20 years before that, it has gone very quickly, but we are nowhere near where we would have liked to be, says Jørgensen, who has fought for women’s football for many years. Hege Jørgensen, general manager of Topfotball women. Photo: Anne Rognerud / news The turning point came in 2017, when Norway did not take a single point in the EC. Until then, sport had largely been driven forward by volunteering. The clubs had neither the money to hire people nor the ability to pay players. But the weak results during the championship also led to a public debate about the role of women and girls in women’s football, Jørgensen points out. – What happened in the wake of the debate was that the sponsors started coming, because they wanted to do something about it, she says. From then on, several clubs began to position themselves. Examples of clubs that have achieved this are Rosenborg, Brann, Vålerenga and LSK women. The majority of the players in these clubs are employed full-time, news’s statistics show. They do not need to study or work alongside their football venture. But there is still a long way to go to reach the same level as the men. – Unfair On an elite league team, almost all the players can make a living from football. Almost 40 percent of the players with professional contracts in the Toppserien earn less than NOK 10,000 a month. – It’s unfair, it’s on the right track, but it’s unfair to be a girl and not be able to make a living from football, says Linn-Mari. She continues: – In an ideal world, I would only play football. Weekday. news has tried to obtain the same overview for the elite series players, but Norsk Toppfotball has explained that they do not have an overview of these figures. In the Lysejord nursery school, it is 1 pm. The educational leader has to tell the children to have it and goes in to change. A few minutes later she comes running out in her football shorts. She shoves her training bag and football boots into the back seat before driving off. – It’s hard some days. It is, absolutely. I would rather wish I could lie down and relax before training, she says. At the Sarpsborg stadium, they change into training clothes after the rest between sessions. Since all the players in Sarpsborg 08 are full-time employees, it is no problem to have two sessions a day. The players are offered a massage between sessions. Everything to recharge the batteries for the next session. At the same time, Peter understands that the daily life of his football colleague wears on him. So certainly one would wish that those who play in the Toppserien could do it fully. Peter Reinhardsen Head coach in Sarpsborg 08, Stefan Billborn, points out that the same amount of recovery as training is crucial for how good you become as a footballer at the top level. Football players who can make a living from their profession full-time therefore have an advantage, he believes. – You can rest more, which means you can train more. There is a reason why the sport develops all the time. Stefan Billborn, head coach Sarpsborg 08. Photo: Anne Rognerud / news Has 8 times higher salary budget In football, money is by no means equally distributed. The elite league clubs have an average salary budget 8 times higher than the top league clubs, news’s survey shows. This is partly due to the fact that men’s football has much greater income from sponsors, TV rights and ticket sales than women’s football. Therefore, Linn-Mari and Peter also have very different everyday lives. The Røa player gets to feel that once again when the clock ticks towards half past two and she parks the car in front of Vallhall Arena. She runs onto the artificial grass pitch. On the sidelines, she laces up her shoes and goes into the locker room to meet the rest of the team. After a day’s work in the nursery, Linn-Mari is ready for today’s second work session. A busy day is felt on her body, but she will still give it her all on the field. Røa coach Geir Norby notices that the players who have not rested before training have a lower energy level. The players who work less can concentrate on work tasks. And they can push themselves to a far greater extent than those who come running from work. – The more stress you have in everyday life, the less achievement there is, then the results also become a challenge, he says. Soon, however, the hour and a half of training is over. Linn-Mari feels that her body is empty. Goals and equipment are cleared away before being carried into the changing room where there is a player meeting. Since seven o’clock this morning it has been one. The working day is finally over for Røa’s first goalkeeper. The dreams and ambitions of 24-year-olds Linn-Mari and Peter are identical. Peter dreams of playing for his favorite club Arsenal. Linn-Mari dreams of playing for Barcelona. They have the same profession and are both professionals. For one of them, it is still impossible to make a living from the dream job. This is how news has calculated the figures Employment conditions in the Toppserien: A survey of the clubs in the Toppserien has given us figures on how many are full-time players, students, pupils, and who work on the side. Salary budgets in the Toppserien and Eliteserien: We have asked all clubs in the Elite and Toppserien what their budget is for player salaries in 2023. Some have provided figures, others did not want to inform us about the budget, while a few have not responded. For the clubs we have not received figures from, we have looked at the annual reports either from 2021 or 2022. There is next year’s budget and with the help of a key from the football association, we have calculated an amount in the budget for player salaries. This has given us figures that, on average, an elite league club has a budget for player wages of approx. NOK 30 million. The equivalent for a top league club is just under NOK 4 million. Salaries in the Toppserien: We have received the figures for salaries for players with professional contracts from Toppfotball Kvinner.
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Linn Mari Nilsen works 100 percent in kindergarten and 100 percent as a soccer player – Sport Langlesing
