Manuel Feller:

“I’m a long way from seven million a year”

Manuel Feller hears "the most bizarre things" about his possessions.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

"I'm a long way from seven million euros a year." Said Manuel Feller in Hafjell in the face of various speculations about his earnings.

Feller was the strongest advertising figure on the Austrian sports market in 2024. The professional skier generated an advertising value of seven million euros for his sponsors. However, according to Feller, attributing this considerable sum to his earnings, as some apparently do, would be a fatal fallacy. He hears "the most bizarre things" in this regard, Feller noted with amusement in Hafjell these days. "I'm a long way from seven million euros a year."

Feller tried to categorize the value calculated by the Focus market research institute using an example. "I think I calculated an advertising value of 2.5 million euros for Atomic. Then you can theoretically go to Atomic and say I want ten percent of that, thumb times pi."

(Bild: GEPA)

Delayed payment
Basically, he is paid for performance - albeit with a time delay. "The fewer races I finish, the less prize money I get, the less advertising value I have for my sponsors, the less money I get next year. I'm being paid for the last year this year, that's about how you put it."

In his most successful season, when he won the small slalom globe in 2023/24, he collected 317,050 francs (approx. 329,000 euros) from prize money alone. In the current, less successful season, the figure is 79,200 according to FIS figures. Since 2012, he is said to have raked in 990,000 francs. There are also advertising contracts and benefits depending on the ÖSV squad level.

"The heating should be on"
"I'm definitely not doing badly," explained the 32-year-old. However, classic luxury symbols are alien to the Tyrolean. "I don't need a jet, a yacht or a villa. A house over my head, something decent to eat and the heating should work, that's all I need."

Feller remembers an earlier statement by tennis star Dominic Thiem. "He said that the best thing for him is that he doesn't have to look at the price tags when he goes grocery shopping. Now that food is so extremely expensive, I don't have to turn over the euro and can buy the healthy - expensive - stuff, which is a huge privilege," said the passionate amateur fisherman. "If I can still afford my fish and give my children a good life, that's a great story."