Ligue 1 referees receive a fixed monthly remuneration plus match fees. The first amount is a preparation allowance that pays to €6,497 for federal referees, €4,188 for “Elite” assistants and €2,291 for “non-Elite” assistants. Match fees vary, depending on the roles of the match officials. The referee receives €3,029 per match, the assistant referees receive €1,478 and a video assistant referee (VAR) is paid €1,000. In France, the budget allocated for refereeing is more than 25 million euros.
There are 20 Federal 1 referees operating in Ligue 1 for the 2023/24 season. They are assigned about 15 first division matches per season as referees. Based on the above amounts, it is estimated that F1 referees would receive around €50,000 in match fees per season. Adding this to the €58,473 annual allowance will lead to an average salary of around €108,000 per season for a Ligue 1 referee.
Source: Arbitrez-Vous