But surely as they offer their services to only one club/company, they must be employed.
They are allowed paternity leave (though i don't know of any who have take it), are paid when sick/injured and have money deducted and paid into their pension pots.
Like Wingy says, their image rights are a different matter and can be dealt with through a limited company.
The player will save an awful lot of tax, as corporation tax rates are much lower that the top rate of income tax.
FA Rules C 1 (b), C1 (c) and C2 (b) require that:
-all payments to a player are made by the Club and fully recorded in the accounting records
of the Club;
-all salaried payments to a player must be subject to PAYE and NI. This includes weekly
wages, performance bonuses (win, points, goals scored etc, share of prize money), loyalty
bonuses and signing on fees;
-where a player is paid expenses then payments are supported by an expenses claim form in
a format acceptable to HMRC and that such forms are retained by the Club;
-all payments and or benefits due and or made to a contract player must be set out in a
written agreement between the Club and the player and a copy provided to The FA;
-all amounts due to a contract player are set out in the contract and must be stated gross
before the deduction of PAYE and National Insurance.
-all player contracts must be in the full name of the Club and state the company number if
the Club is incorporated;
-contracts between a Club and a player must state that all amounts due are payable to the
player and not to any company or any agency acting on behalf of the player (ie a player
must be an employee of the Club and cannot be self employed).
