Chicago Fire FC has been a consistent presence in Major League Soccer (MLS) since its inception in 1997. As with any professional sports team, player salaries are a major component of the team’s budget. Have you ever wondered how much a Chicago Fire player makes?
The average base salary of an Atlanta United player is $610,508 with an average annualized guaranteed compensation of $672,947 on a roster of 29 players. The highest-paid player is by far Xherdan Shaqiri, with a base salary of $7,350,000 and guaranteed compensation of $8,153,000.
It’s no secret that professional sports come with a hefty price tag, and the Chicago Fire FC is no exception. In this article, we’ll explore the team’s salaries for the 2023 season and reveal who the highest-paid players are besides Shaqiri, their top earner.
Table of Contents
- Chicago Fire Salaries
- Top 3 Highest-Paid Players
- The proportion of spending on the Highest Earners
- Chicago Fire Salaries Compared to Other MLS Teams
- Funding: Where Is The Money Coming From?
Chicago Fire Salaries
Here is a breakdown of the base salary and guaranteed compensation of the Chicago Fire FC players.
Top 3 Highest-Paid Players
The highest-paid players of the Chicago Fire, also called Men in Red:
- Xherdan Shaqiri – $8,153,000
- Gaston Gimenez – $1,633,333
- Jairo Torrez – $1,469,337
1. Xherdan Shaqiri – $8,153,000
The Swiss international, Xherdan Shaqiri, joined the Chicago Fire FC team on February 9, 2022, as a designated Player. The superstar winger who has played for prestigious clubs such as Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and Inter Milan, is without a doubt the highest-paid player of the Men in Red.
Additionally, the team made an incredible investment in the 31-year-old player making him the second-highest earner in the MLS just behind Toronto FC’s designated player Lorenzo Insigne who earns $14,000,000.
Shaqiri’s salary is a reflection of his talent and experience. Shaqiri has won the Champions League twice, once with Bayern Munich in 2012/13 and once with Liverpool FC in 2018/19.
He has also won the FIFA Club World Cup twice, once with Bayern Munich in 2013 and once with Liverpool FC in 2019. Additionally, Shaqiri has won three Swiss Super League titles with FC Basel, three Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich, and one Premier League title with Liverpool FC. He also won the UEFA Super Cup with Liverpool FC in 2019 and the Serie A title with Inter Milan in 2020/21.
Although his experience and skillset come at a high price tag, Shaqiri, without a doubt can pay off the investment on and off the field. Whether that is by taking the soccer level of the Chicago Fire to the next level, or bringing more fans to the stadium and generating more merchandising revenue, he is helping to take the MLS to the next level.
2. Gaston Gimenez – $2,360,667
The Paraguayan midfielder, Gaston Gimenez, joined the Chicago Fire FC in January 2020 as a Designated Player, signing a three-year contract with the team. He made his debut for the Chicago Fire FC in March 2020 and quickly became a key player for the team.
In October 2022, Gastón Giménez, a midfielder for the Chicago Fire FC, signed a new contract that will begin on January 1, 2023, and keep him with the team through the 2025 season.
The new contract opens up a Designated Player slot on the team’s roster. Giménez, who is a Paraguay international, received his U.S. Green Card earlier this year and will not occupy an international roster slot.
Despite this change in status, Gimenez remained an important player for the team, starting in all but one of the team’s games in the 2022 season as of November 2022.
According to Transfermarkt, a website that tracks soccer player valuations, Gimenez’s current market value is €2.00 million as of November 2022. His highest market value was €4.50 million, which he achieved in August 2019 right before joining the Men in Red.
3. Jairo Torrez – $1,469,337
The Mexican winger, Jairo Torres joined the Men in Red on May 1, 2022 from Atlas FC and has signed through 2025 occupying the spot of the Young Designated Player. According to Transfermarkt, his current market value is €5.00m.
Torres began his professional career with Atlas in Liga MX, where he climbed the academy ranks before making his first-team debut in 2019. During his first season with Chicago Fire in 2022, Torres made 19 appearances and recorded three goals and three assists.
The proportion of spending on the Highest Earners
The top three earners are, as expected, the three designated players: Xherdan Shaqiri, Gaston Gimenez, and Jairo Torrez. When analyzing the overall percentage salary expenditure between these three players and the rest of the Men in Red players, the designated players are the equivalent of 58% of the whole roster’s salary!
Seeing this kind of salary proportion between the highest earners and the rest of the players in an MLS team is common. However, Chicago Fire pays by far more to their three highest earner players in proportion compared to the 50% and 43% that Houston Dynamo and Atlanta United portion of their team salaries that go to their designated players.
Doing a further analysis of the percentage of the highest earner and superstar, Xherdan Shaqiri, in comparison and the rest of the team, the ex-Liverpool, ex-Inter, and ex-Bayern Munich player, accounts for 42% of the team’s salary! That’s more than a third of the whole roster compensation!
Chicago Fire Salaries Compared to Other MLS Teams
Chicago Fire currently has the highest-paid player in the MLS, the Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri, above Toronto FC’s Designated Player Lorenzo Insigne who receives a guaranteed compensation of $7.5 million.
Despite paying over $8 million to the superstar Shaquiri, The Men in Red doesn’t have the highest payroll in the MLS. The total roster guaranteed compensation is a little over $19 million, making the Chicago team the 6th most expensive payroll in the MLS.
Toronto FC and LA Galaxy have a payroll of over $25 and $23 million respectively. That’s a difference of over $6 million in payroll between the most expensive team in the MLS and Chicago Fire FC.
Funding: Where Is The Money Coming From?
The Chicago Fire FC is currently owned by Joe Mansueto, who acquired full ownership of the team in September 2019. The exact amount of funding that Joe Mansueto has provided to the Chicago Fire FC is not publicly available.
The team’s current partners include Motorola, Heineken, Wintrust, Adidas, Buick, P&G, All-State, AstroTurf, BodyArmor, Curad, Proven IT, Aries Charter Transportation Inc, Assurance, The Blackstone Hotel, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, Continental, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Revolution Brewing, Spot Hero, and TGI.
These partners provide financial support to the team in exchange for various advertising and branding opportunities, such as having their logos displayed on team jerseys, stadium signage, and digital media.
Chicago Fire also receives funding from the league’s central revenue. This revenue includes revenue generated from national TV contracts and league-wide sponsorships. The league also has mechanisms in place to help teams with player acquisition costs, such as the allocation money system and the Designated Player rule.
