FOOTBALL is one of the most lucrative sports careers in the UK, requiring an investment of as little as £62,500 across a decade to eventually earn a whopping £2,600,000 yearly as a Premier League football professional.

For example, Bradford's Fabian Delph began his youth career with the Bantams at the age of 10 and now earns £90,000 a week at Premier League champions Manchester City.

Out of every 1.5 million that attempt the feat, only 180 make it as Premier League professionals, 1,396 as League Football professionals, and 3,664 as semi-professionals in Non-League.

Lee Whitbread, CEO at Money Pug, who conducted the research, said: “The potential for a career in sport has grown extensively over the course of the last 30 years as the reach of professionalism has extended beyond the most common sports and now influences hundreds of sports, for men and women at various levels.

“The obvious change this has brought about is the increase of wages in professional sport.”