Parreira's salary to treble

Carlos Alberto Parreira is being paid over three times more to coach Bafana Bafana than he earned at the helm of Brazil's 2006 Fifa World Cup side.

Parreira may well be currently the best paid national coach in the world after the departure of the monstrously overpaid Sven-Goran Eriksson from the England job after the World Cup.

Parreira, who is expected to arrive in South Africa any day now, was earning R6,75-million a year when he took Brazil to the quarterfinals in Germany.

His reward for what is in Brazilian terms a failure, is a hike in salary to a mammoth R21,6-million a year to take charge of Bafana Bafana through World Cup 2010.

And if you think that is ridiculous, even Parreira's assistant coach, at around R7-million a year, will be earning more than Parreira earned in Brazil!

Parreira's salary puts him ahead in earnings of any coach in Germany, bar Eriksson, who was earning that quite extra-ordinary R67,5-million per annum. Next in the list was Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who picked up R20,25-million for his efforts.

There is a warning to South Africa in Eriksson's ultimate failure as England coach - that money cannot necessarily buy you glory, illustrated even more so in the figures relating to Italy coach Marcello Lippi.

Lippi was earning merely R13,5-million a year when he took the Azzurri all the way to World Cup glory.

Interestingly, Australia coach Guus Hiddink, who got the Socceroos to the last 16 and was once seriously touted for the South Africa job, earned only R3,38-million a year for his job with the Aussies. He has, of course, since moved to Russia, but even his salary there, at around R17-million a year, is less than Parreira's.

It is now well known that Fifa have given the South African Football Association R70-million towards the betterment of South African soccer, and, given Parreira's salary and that of his assistants, it seems Safa have decided to put pretty much all their eggs and then some into one Brazilian basket.

Criticism of such an enormous salary is inevitable, and comparisons have already been made with president Thabo Mbeki, who earns a mere R1,2-million a year. In South Africa, where many people live below the poverty line, the amount appears even more grotesque. It is hoped that Parreira, now 63 years old, is not coming to South Africa merely to pick up an extremely healthy retirement annuity.

Of course, should he succeed in winning the 2008 MTN Africa Cup of Nations, as well as the 2010 edition, and reach at least the World Cup quarterfinals, Safa will parade themselves as national heroes, claiming money well spent.

Should he fail, however, the situation could look horribly like Eriksson and England.

Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail wrote of Eriksson after the World Cup in Germany: "Sven stuffed his pockets, and then he stuffed us all. He banked, he bonked and he ballsed it up."

Parreira is happily married, so "bonking" should not be something that damages his reputation. As for the rest, that's anyone's guess.

Opinion on Parreira's salary...

Roger da Sa - Santos

When I fully digested the information that a soccer coach would be earning something like R100-million in less than four years in our country, my stomach turned over... the financial structures and needs of the ordinary people in Europe are totally different to those in South Africa. Let's also be frank, without the right structures, Parreira will not produce any miracles for Bafana at the World Cup. Give Fernando Alonso or Michael Schumacher an old jalopy to drive and they wouldn't make any difference either. - Sapa

Owen da Gama - Silver Stars

I think it is way too much money, I think their understanding of Europe is out of context by bringing those salaries here where you have a much lower standard of living. In Europe you pay R150 for a pizza, here you pay R28. I don't think it is good for our soccer, it is undermining the people of South Africa. I think the money could be utilised much better in developing local coaches like Pitso Mosimane, Gordon Igesund or Khabo Zondo. Not one cent is being spent on developing local coaches.

Desiree Ellis - Former Banyana captain

We have people in South Africa that could coach and we could utilise that money somewhere else. Everyone is saying we need a foreign coach, but I don't know. Why don't we let Gordon Igesund and Jomo Sono coach the team together. Everyone respects Jomo. Gordon has won the league with three different teams. Parreira will be out the country more than he is in it. He won the 1994 World Cup with a team he inherited. It's an obscene amount of money. I'm placing a bet that he won't last the four years.

The big earners

Annual salary of some 2006 World Cup coaches:

Sven-Goran Eriksson (England) - R67,5-million

Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany) - R20,25-million

Ricardo la Volpe (Mexico) - R18,9-million

Marcello Lippi (Italy) - R13,5-million

Luiz Felipe Scolari (Portugal) - R13,5-million

Luis Aragones (Spain) - R10,8-million

Carlos Alberto Parreira (Brazil) - R6,75-million

Guus Hiddink (Australia) - R3,38-million

Marco van Basten (Holland) - R2,7-million

Jose Pekerman (Argentina) - R1,35-million - Source: Daily Mail