Flavio Silva enjoying best-ever earnings at Kaizer Chiefs

Guinea-Bissau international Flavio Silva is reportedly enjoying the most lucrative contract of his career during his debut season with Kaizer Chiefs, a significant financial step up from his time in Portugal and Indonesia.

The striker has made a solid start at the club, netting nine goals and providing one assist across all competitions.

His form also earned him a debut for the Guinea-Bissau national team. As he approaches the end of his first year in South Africa, Silva is just one goal shy of reaching double figures for the season.

Before his move to Naturena, Silva spent two-and-a-half years in Indonesia’s Liga 1 with Persik Kediri and Persebaya Surabaya, where he first began to earn a decent income following a brief stint in Luxembourg.

Meteoric rise for Kaizer Chiefs striker

His journey to the PSL has been a long one. Silva’s early career was spent in Portugal’s lower divisions, starting with Sporting’s U19 team and then moving to the semi-professional Terceira Divisao with Sport Clube Uniao Torreense in 2014. He had a brief, unsuccessful spell with Benfica B in the second tier before dropping to the third division with SC Covilha.

In 2016, a move to the USA’s second-tier league with San Antonio offered slightly better pay, but he returned to Portugal within six months to join Uniao Madeira. After his first full season in the Portuguese Second Division, he transferred to CD Mafra before returning to third-division football with Alverca, Real Sport Clube, and FC Amora. A move to FC Mondercange in Luxembourg followed in June 2022 before he was signed by Chiefs.

A Portuguese-based agent familiar with the market explained to KickOff the significant pay difference Silva is now experiencing.

How much is Flavio Silva earning now?

“In the Third Division here in Portugal, he was earning about €1,500 (about R28,000) at most, while in the Second Division it would have been just above double that at best,” the agent stated. “The low salaries in the Portuguese lower divisions mean contracts are mostly shorter, which explains why players move around a lot.”

The agent emphasised the financial strength of the Soweto giants compared to Silva’s former clubs.

“Chiefs are in a better financial state than all the Second Division clubs Silva was with in Portugal. Remember, Chiefs is even better-resourced than some clubs in the top league here, so he is on at least double the best money he ever earned in Portugal,” he added.

“There are further benefits of bonuses at Chiefs, and being African, he is better off in Johannesburg than in Indonesia, which is why joining Chiefs was such an easy decision for him.”