Landon Donovan’s injury time gamewinner against was certainly dramatic but it was also worth a lot of money to him and his teammates. The goal qualified the US for the knockout stages, gave them at least one more game and two more points for the group win. This we all know, but based on the released bonus schedule for the USMNT it was also a very lucrative goal.
Prior to the goal, the USMNT players stood to earn $101,925 per player for their appearances at the World Cup. A full $78,447 was guaranteed to each player for just showing up, plus an additional $23,478* for 3 points earned in play.
After the goal, the players were now set to earn $245,900* per player. There was the additional $360,000 for two more points split among the players, plus a pool of $2,850,000 to be distributed for qualifying to the round of 16 and an additional $4,410 per player for the extra game. Donovan’s boot netted his teammates, on average, an additional $143,975.
This is more than Jonathan Bornstein’s annual salary for Chivas USA ($100,000), eighty percent of Edson Buddle’s base salary ($178,448), and nearly double Robbie Findley’s base salary ($73,566). Plus, it’s four times Stu Holden’s 2009 MLS salary ($34,728), who I’m sure makes far more for Blackburn Bolton these days. But still, it’s a lot of coin for most of these players.
Landon Donovan may not win FIFA’s Golden Boot Award but he should certainly win the USMNT golden boot award for all the money he made the team.
*This number is inexact because the additional payments beyond the guaranteed amount are weighted and not distributed equally.
Holden plays for Bolton, not Blackburn…unless there’s some breaking news I don’t know about!
And he’s only played for them twice!