Ben Foster revealed the surprise item footballers have to pay for after a match

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has spoken out about about footballers having to pay for every shirt they give away post-match.

Regardless of the league or competition, after every single match of football, players are often spotted exchanging shirts with one of their opponents or handing it out to an adoring fan in the stadium.

Typically, players in the Premier League are given two shirts per game, with some players' shirts more sought after than others.

While players like Lionel Messi has been more selective about which players he swaps his shirt with, rival Cristiano Ronaldo has handed out out plenty throughout his career.

But it's not cheap to hand out your shirt post-match, as Ronaldo's former teammate Foster explained while estimating that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has spent at least £77,000 on handing out jerseys.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, The Cycling GK, Foster gave an insight into the rules regarding handing out shirts.

He began: "Right guys, Cristiano Ronaldo gives his shirt away pretty much every single game, but what you don't know, is us footballers actually have to pay for every single shirt we give away

"Now don't get me wrong, this is not going to touch the sides of Cristiano's bank balance, however, let's go through the maths of how many shirts this guy has given away.

"So, he's played 1,100 games in his career and you get two shirts per game.

"I'm not saying he gives every shirt away every single game but, in those 1,100 games, you would like to think he's given one away every single game, pretty much, give or take one or two.

"So, we'll start with that figure: 1,100 games. If you look at the price of what these shirts cost nowadays, the current home Man Utd shirt costs £100."

Ben Foster later played against Ronaldo during his spell at Watford. (Image: Getty)

Foster added: "Don't get me wrong, back in the day, they were a little bit cheaper, £50 or £60. So, let's work on they cost on average £70."

As he takes the time to figure out the exact mathematics, the former Wrexham and Watford goalkeeper suddenly said: "1,100 shirts times £70 is £77,000. Whaaaaat?"

Of course, since Foster's January 2022 video, this number will have only gone up as Ronaldo has continued to play into his 40s.

After making 41 appearances for current club Al Nassr last season, as well as leading the line as Portugal's captain on several occasions, Ronaldo has now played over 1280 matches in his professional career.

Using Foster's logic, this would mean that he has potentially spent just shy of £90,000 giving away his shirts.