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In a world where money means so much more in sports than it used to squash no longer just a hobby for many involved.
With tour prize money skyrocketing year after year, it's hard to ignore the financial advancements in the sport.
But how much does a squash player earn?
The top male earner earned $278.000. The average professional tour player earns about $100.000 a year, and the vast majority of professionals much less than this.
Compared to some of the other global sports, squash is less lucrative.
In this article, I'll cover many aspects of getting paid, such as how much pros will earn on different parts of the tour, the gender pay gap, and tournament prize funds around the world.
What we discuss in this comprehensive post:
Earnings for squash players
In one of the more recent reports on squash finance The sport's governing body, the PSA, has revealed that one thing is certain.
The pay gap between men and women has narrowed.
At the end of last season, total compensation on the PSA World Tour was $6,4 million.
According to the PSA, that was an 11 percent increase from the previous year.
Just five years ago, squash might not have been such an attractive career option, especially if you also had tennis or golfing talents.
However, the next generation is likely to benefit from the sacrifices made by those who came before them.
There is also an ongoing campaign to include squash at the Summer Olympics.
If that ever happened, it would certainly help raise the profile of the sport, which is what the Summer Games have always wanted to do.
All relevant stakeholders are therefore clearly making great strides in the right direction, even though there is still so much to achieve.
Men's vs Women's players and their compensation
The total money available during the women's tour last season was $2.599.000. That equated to an increase of no less than 31 percent.
Total money available to men last season was in the region of $3.820.000.
The squash authorities have done their best in recent years to better promote the sport. More colorful arenas, bigger venues and better broadcast deals.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that the aggressive campaign is starting to yield positive results for both the men's and women's games.
The top male earner hit $2018 in 278.231, up 72 percent in just three years. But, of course, there is now simply more money across the board.
The PSA reports that the median income among men has increased by 37 percent, while the median income among women has increased by 63 percent.
The female players have had to work their way up from a much lower base.
A growing sport
Part of generating more revenue for the game is spreading the gospel of the sport.
Extensive efforts have been made over the past four years to bring squash to the most remote locations. They include places like Bolivia, which is famous for its high altitude.
That in itself adds an extra dimension for players and fans alike. There is convincing evidence that further progress will be made in 2019.
Also read: these are sports shoes specially made for the challenges of squash
The PSA World Tour
There are four basic structures on the PSA World Tour, to know:
- PSA World Tour Platinum
- PSA WorldTour Gold
- PSA WorldTour Silver
- PSA WorldTour Bronze
The Platinum Tour events usually feature 48 players. These are the premium events for the season, which have received the most marketing, the most attention and the biggest sponsors.
The gold, silver, and bronze tours typically feature 24 players. However, the earning scale for the three tiers of tournaments drops significantly the lower you go.
World Tour Final
The top eight players in the world rankings then earn an extra chance after qualifying for the PSA World Tour Finals. The total prize money available at the World Tour Finals is $165.000.
The salary for the different tournament structures and the events they cover are as follows:
Platinum Tour: $164.500 to $180.500
- FS Investments US Open (Mohamed El Shorbagy and Raneem El Weleily)
- Qatar Classic (Ali Farag)
- Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open (Mohamed El Shorbagy and Joelle King)
- CIB Black Ball Squash Open (Karim Abdel Gawad)
- JP Morgan Tournament of Champions (Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini)
Gold Tour: $100.000 to $120.500
- JP Morgan China Squash Open (Mohamed Abouelghar and Raneem El Weleily)
- Oracle Netsuite Open (Ali Farag)
- Channel VAS Championships at St George's Hill (Tarek Momen)
Silver Tour: $70.000 to $88.000
- CCI International (Tarek Momen)
- Suburban Collection Motor City Open (Mohamed Abouelghar)
- Oracle Netsuite Open (Sarah-Jane Perry)
Bronze Tour: $51.000 to $53.000
- Carol Weymuller Open (Nour El Tayeb)
- QSF No.1 (Daryl Selby)
- Golootlo Pakistan Men's Open (Karim Abdel Gawad)
- Cleveland Classic (Nour El Tayeb)
- Three Rivers Capital Pittsburgh Open (Gregoire Marche)
PSA Challenger Tour
It is the players who participate in the PSA Challenger Tour who are really struggling to make ends meet.
Crucially, most of these players have ambitions to compete at the top of the sport so they see it as an investment in the future.
When travel, livelihood and shelter are taken into account, the money available to them is extremely low.
Here's a little look at what the athletes competing on the PSA Challenger Tour can expect:
Challenger Tour 30: $28.000 total prize money available
- Open International de Nantes (Declan James)
- Pakistan Chief of the Air Staff International (Youssef Soliman)
- Queclink HKFC International (Max Lee and Annie Au)
- Walker & Dunlop / Hussain Family Chicago Open (Ryan Cuskelly)
- Kolkata International (Saurav Ghosal)
- Bahl & Gaynor Cincinnati Cup (Hania El Hammamy)
Challenger Tour 20: $18.000 total prize money available
- Open International de Nantes (Nele Gilis)
- NASH Cup (Emily Whitlock)
- FMC International Squash Championship (Youssef Soliman)
- Hotel Intetti by Faletti. Men's Championship (Tayyab Aslam)
- Cleveland Skating Club Open (Richie Fallows)
- DHA Cup International Championship (Ivan Yuen)
- Golootlo Pakistan Women's Open (Yathreb Adel)
- Monte Carlo Classic (Laura Massaro)
- 13th CNS International Squash Tournament (Youssef Ibrahim)
- London Open (James Willstrop and Fiona Moverley)
- Edinburgh Sports Club Open (Paul Coll and Hania El Hammamy)
Challenger Tour 10: $11.000 total prize money available
- Australian Open (Rex Hedrick and Low Wee Wern)
- Growthpoint SA Open (Mohamed ElSherbini and Farida Mohamed)
- Tarra KIA Bega Open (Rex Hedrick)
- Pakistan Women's International Tournament (Rowan Elaraby)
- Sports work Open (Youssef Ibrahim)
- Remeo Open (Mahesh Mangaonkar)
- NASH Cup (Alfredo Avila)
- Madeira Island Open (Todd Harrity)
- Aspin Kemp & Associates Aspin Cup (Vikram Malhotra)
- Texas Open Men's Squash Championships (Vikram Malhotra)
- WLJ Capital Boston Open (Robertino Pezzota)
- CIB Wadi Degla Squash Tournament (Youssef Ibrahim and Zeina Mickawy)
- First Block Capital Jericho Open (Henrik Mustonen)
- JC Women's Open (Samantha Cornett)
- PSA Valencia (Edmon Lopez)
- Swiss Open (Youssef Ibrahim)
- APM Kelowna Open (Vikram Malhotra)
- Alliance Manufacturing Ltd. Simon Warder Mem. (Shahjahan Khan and Samantha Cornett)
- Brussels Open (Mahesh Mangaonkar)
- Open international Niort-Venise Verte (Baptiste Masotti)
- Saskatoon Movember Boast (Dmitri Steinmann)
- Securian Open (Chris Hanson)
- Betty Griffin Memorial Florida Open (Iker Pajares)
- CSC Delaware Open (Lisa Aitken)
- Seattle Open (Ramit Tandon)
- Carter & Assante Classic (Baptiste Masotti)
- Linear logistics banking hall Pro-Am (Leonel Cárdenas)
- Life Time Atlanta Open (Henry Leung)
- E.M. Noll Classic (Youssef Ibrahim and Sabrina Sobhy)
Challenger Tour 5 : $11.000 Total prize money available
- Squash Melbourne Open (Christophe André and Vanessa Chu)
- City of Greater Shepparton International (Dimitri Steinmann)
- Prague Open (Shehab Essam)
- Roberts & Morrow North Coast Open (Dimitri Steinmann and Christine Nunn)
- Pharmasyntez Russian Open (Jami Zijänen)
- Beijing Squash Challenge (Henry Leung)
- Kiva Club Open (Aditya Jagtap)
- Wakefield PSA Open (Juan Camilo Vargas)
- Big Head Wines White Oaks Court Classic (Daniel Mekbib)
- Hotel Intetti by Faletti. Women's Championship (Mélissa Alvès)
- Q Open (Richie Fallows and Low Wee Wern)
- 6th Open Provence Chateau-Arnoux (Kristian Frost)
- Pacific Toyota Cairns International (Darren Chan)
- 2nd PwC Open (Menna Hamed)
- Rhode Island Open (Olivia Fiechter)
- Romanian Open (Youssef Ibrahim)
- Czech Open (Fabien Verseille)
- DHA Cup International Championship (Farida Mohamed)
- Aston & Fincher Sutton Coldfield International (Victor Crouin)
- Airport Squash & Fitness Xmas Challenger (Farkas Balázs)
- Singapore Open (James Huang and Low Wee Wern)
- Tournoi Feminin Val de Marne (Melissa Alves)
- OceanBlue Log. Grimsby & Cleethorpes Open (Jaymie Haycocks)
- IMET PSA Open (Farkas Balazs)
- Internazionali d'Italia (Henry Leung and Lisa Aitken)
- Remeo Ladies Open (Lisa Aitken)
- Bourbon Trail Event No1 (Faraz Khan)
- Contrex Challenge Cup (Henry Leung and Mélissa Alvès)
- Select Gaming / The Colin Payne Kent Open (Jan Van Den Herrewegen)
- Bourbon Trail Event No2 (Aditya Jagtap)
- Odense Open (Benjamin Aubert)
- Savcor Finnish Open (Miko Zijänen)
- Bourbon Trail Event No3 (Aditya Jagtap)
- Falcon PSA Squash Cup open
- Guilfoyle PSA Squash Classic
- Mt Royal University Open
- Hampshire Open
As is the case with the PSA World Tour Finals, there is an opportunity to cash in on the biggest event of the season, this time at the PSA World Championships.
Highest earning players squash men
Egypt's Ali Farag has won three tournaments this season – two of which were platinum events. Farag was also second in three events. Two of those were also platinum events.
Mohamed El Shorbagy has won two Platinum titles this season, but otherwise some of his results have been somewhat disappointing. They include two third-round exits at Platinum events.
In addition, he was thrown out of the first round on St George's Hill late last year.
Highest earning players squash ladies
This season, women's squash has also been an Egyptian affair.
Raneem El Weleily and compatriot Nour El Sherbini absolutely dominated the tour.
El Weleily has played five tournaments this season. The results include a platinum and gold win, followed by runner-up campaigns at the Tournament of Champions, Hong Kong Open and the Netsuite Open.
El Sherbini has played four tournaments this season. They include two forays into the United States.
Maximum points were secured in one of those events, while she also lost a championship match to her compatriot El Weleily.
Sponsorship income
Squash still has a significant way to go in this area and, to a large extent, the absence of any meaningful details about the nature of a professional player's contracts perhaps highlights how untapped the earning and marketing potential is in this industry.
However, there are all indications that the sport is moving in the right direction.
In 2019, El Shorbagy is the main player in the world, although the status quo may not last much longer. He has a string of glamorous endorsement deals with Red Bull, Tecnifibre, Channel Vas and Rowe.
Farag, the man who threatens to dethrone El Shorbagy, currently has a deal with manufacturer Dunlop Hyperfibre.
World number three Tarek Momen, also Egyptian, currently has an endorsement deal with Harrow.
Germany's Simon Rösner, and the only European in the top five in the world, currently has a sponsorship deal for the Oliver Apex 700.
Karim Abdel Gawad is the World Number Five and another Egyptian superstar. Gawad is a brand ambassador for Harrow Sports, Rowe, Hutkayfit, Eye Rackets and the Commercial International Bank.
Raneem El Welily is the top player in women's squash and ambassador of the Harrow brand.
Another Egyptian, Nour el Sherbini, is the number two among the women. She has a very established and well-selling brand, as evidenced by her own personal website.
Among its brands are the Tecnfibre Carboflex 125 NS and Dunlop ball.
She is a great example of someone who has not only landed the top contracts, but has sold herself well.
Joelle King is New Zealand's best and world number three. She is also the brand ambassador for HEAD. Among its other partners are Honda, High Performance Sport New Zealand, Cambridge Racquets Club, USANA, ASICS and 67.
World number four, Nour El Tayeb, is also Egyptian and a brand ambassador for Dunlop.
World Number Five Serme Camille is from France. She is the brand ambassador for Artengo.
Comparison of earnings with tennis players
The BIG THREE in tennis are no longer at their peak. However, they are still light years ahead of their peers in terms of total revenue.
Roger Federer has made a total of $77 million. He didn't win as much last year, well, not as much as he used to. However, his sponsorship deals are still valued at a whopping $65 million.
Rafael Nadal won a whopping $41 million in a year and sponsors paid him another $27 million.
The surprising name at the top of this list is Kei Nishikori, the promise of Japanese tennis.
The fact that he made $33 million in sponsorship alone confirms how valuable he is as a brand, even if he doesn't win as often as the others.
Serena Williams was away from the courts for over a year, but still managed to make the top five on the list. Her total earnings were close to $18,1 million. Almost everything came from sponsorship.
Conclusion
Squash is far from one of the more lucrative sports in the world, but it is growing in prize money year after year. Many more professional players now have a number of sponsorships to add to this stream of tournament revenue.
With the possibility of squash becoming an Olympic sport, and with the overall global growth of squash, the future looks even brighter.
Also read: these are the best rackets to improve your squash game
