However, this sum seems very derisory if we compare to other sports. Unsurprisingly, it is towards football that looks turn.
Red Devils: 42,000 euros… per player at the Euro
Eliminated in the round of 16 of the euro, the Red Devils would have won the jackpot in the event of a victory. Indeed, all the players should have declined 445,000 euros if they had raised the trophy won by Spain. Another interesting statistics: all the players received… 42,000 euros by participating in the tournament. The group also received 80,000 euros to decide on to reach the round of 16.
Delaere trips on the trophy, Meesseman blocks a shower and the words of Mike Thibault: The incredible party after the feat of the Belgian Cats
Questioned by the Nieuwsblad, Koen Umans, the director general of basketball in Belgium, had explained why this amount was also low for the Belgian Cats. “The total budget of the 13 national teams-including 3×3-amounts to 3.2 million euros. Financially, we do what we can, but our possibilities are limited,” he said.
For Umans, CATS are not interested in money. “It is clear that they have other motivations,” he said. “Cents are no longer the subject of discussions. Indirectly, they are reaping the financial fruits of their international success at the level of clubs.”
Cats attract crowds
However, the cats are particularly popular. During the Olympic Games, they broke audience records during the semi-final against France. By comparison, they had attracted nearly 360,000 viewers during this euro, against 17,000 viewers for the Red Flames.
A historic rise and a second consecutive coronation: the Belgian Cats are (still) European champions!
Koen Umans also said that these financial agreements had been concluded in the fall of 2023. “And they run until 2028,” he said. “The question was then as follows: Let us invest in wages or in supervision? In consultation with the players, we opted for this last option. The staff was never so complete as during this European championship, with in particular a development manager who takes care of athletes individually.”
And this is also what allowed Belgian Cats to write history.
