Why Is Kylian Mbappé Receiving $1.8 Million Ethics Bonus Payment From PSG? Key Details Emerge Behind Unique Wage Structure

Kylian Mbappé recently won a court battle against his former club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and they were ordered to pay him just under $71 million. However, what caught the eye of several fans was the unique $1.8 million ‘ethnic bonus’ included in his wages at the club.

What Was the ‘Ethnic Bonus’ in Mbappé’s Contract?

French laws forbid organizations from deducting any wages from the base salary paid to workers. The unique way football clubs, especially PSG, worked around the law was by adding an ‘ethnic bonus’ to players’ contracts on top of the base wages they offered.

The clubs used it to enforce a moral code, allowing them to deduct wages when they believed a player was not cooperating or damaging the club’s reputation. PSG withheld $1.8 million of the bonus owed to the Frenchman for his final three months at the club after he refused to sign a new deal and left the club to join Real Madrid on a free transfer.

PSG have now been ordered to pay the striker all unpaid wages and bonuses, totaling a stunning $71 million. The French club was unwilling to do so before the court decision, as they believed his move cost them millions in transfer fees.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire spoke to BBC Sport about the bonuses and said:

“Clubs are very keen to protect their image. They don’t want anybody going nuclear and criticizing the club, which means that they call them good behavior clauses. We saw similar with Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong [who had morals clauses with sponsors]. So behavioral clauses are quite common within sport.”

Maguire reports that players were earning up to 40% more than their base wages through such bonuses, as well as image rights and other performance-related bonuses.

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BBC Sport reports that Mbappé was not the only player to have an extraordinary bonus in his deal at Parc des Princes. Neymar also had a similar bonus, which forced him to behave ‘responsibly’ to sponsors, fans, and referees, while also ensuring that he arrived at training on time and did not place bets.

Hatem Ben Arfa lost a chunk of his bonuses in 2017 after he skipped the mid-season training camp in Qatar. Marco Verratti also had his bonus withheld by the Ligue 1 club in 2018, after he was caught drink-driving.

Lionel Messi was also fined by PSG for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, just months before his 2023 exit from the club.