Can an amateur footballer be paid? The financial framework explained

Three ways to be paid as a player

• Kanscontract: you only receive bonuses, for a win or a draw.
• Volunteer allowance: only for small amounts and only in the provincial divisions.
• Paid-sportsperson contract: a real employment contract.

As a player you cannot be paid as an association worker, as a self-employed person or as a student.

The kanscontract: at most €4,500 per season

• You receive bonuses only: at most €100 per point and at most €4,500 per season.
• No employment contract is needed and no social security contributions are due on the bonuses.
• Withholding tax is due. The club withholds it and reports the bonuses; you copy the amounts into your tax return. For players who do not turn 23 that year the rate is around 16.5% (up to a certain amount); for others it is around 33%.
• €4,500 is therefore a gross amount, not net. It covers all bonuses and any reimbursed expenses; the costs of playing, such as boots, kit and travel, are your own.
• A kanscontract cannot be combined with other expense allowances if you want to keep the social security exemption.
• Within this limit the relationship with your club is not treated as an employment contract and no workplace accident insurance is needed.

More than €4,500 per season?

If you receive more, the social security office (RSZ) may treat the arrangement as an employment contract and the club may have to pay contributions. A club that wants to pay an amateur player more can offer an employment contract under joint committee 329.01, if the club is a non-profit (vzw). The law then requires at least 13 hours a week and a minimum wage, with everything that comes with it: holiday pay, workplace accident insurance, work rules and an external prevention service. Voetbal Vlaanderen recommends working with a payroll provider (sociaal secretariaat).

Paid sportsperson

As a paid sportsperson you have an employment contract with your club, governed by the 1978 act on employment contracts for paid sportspeople. Your pay must exceed a minimum that is adjusted every season. For the 2025-2026 season it was €13,338.18 gross per year for a part-time and €26,353.22 gross per year for a full-time paid sportsperson.

Volunteer

A player can only fall under volunteer status if they stay below €12.50 per match, and only at clubs in the provincial divisions.

Coaches, sports instructors and youth coordinators may receive a higher flat-rate allowance as volunteers: in 2026 at most €3,233.91 per year, compared with €1,760.83 (and €44.02 per day) for other volunteers. People receiving social benefits or a pension are not entitled to the higher amount.

Rules for clubs

• Payments set out in contracts may only be made electronically, through the club's bank account. Payments by third parties are not allowed.
• Every year, by 31 July at the latest, clubs submit a sworn statement to Voetbal Vlaanderen that they comply with the federation's regulations.
• Voetbal Vlaanderen does not check payments itself: that is a matter for the authorities, and social or tax fraud can have serious consequences. The federation can sanction breaches of its internal rules, such as non-electronic payments.

Playing for an ACFF club? Social and tax rules, such as social security, withholding tax and the volunteer allowance, are federal and therefore the same. The sworn-statement framework is Voetbal Vlaanderen's: ask the ACFF which arrangements apply there.