Jamie Vardy’s shocking £30 weekly wage before hitting the big time | OneFootball

Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy was earning just £30 a week for playing for Stocksbridge Park Steels in 2010

Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy's well-documented route to football stardom was far from conventional.

The former England international played in non-league for Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax Town, and Fleetwood Town before joining the Foxes in 2012.

Leicester were a Championship outfit when the striker joined them 14 years ago, but he went on to win the Premier League title and the FA Cup with the King Power Stadium club in 2016 and 2021, respectively.

Vardy joined Italian top-flight outfit Cremonese in September 2025, departing the Foxes following a remarkable record of 200 goals in 500 games.

Leicester City icon Jamie Vardy used to earn just £30 a week for playing non-league football

Vardy has made a strong impact at Cremonese since leaving Leicester, and won Serie A's player of the month award in November, becoming the first Englishman to do so.

According to Capology estimates, the 39-year-old earns £30,710 a week playing for the top-flight outfit, totalling an annual salary of £1,596,932.

However, things were very different for Vardy back in 2010, when he was earning just £30 a week playing non-league football for Stocksbridge Park Steels, as per The Guardian.

Vardy scored 55 goals for Park Steels across all competitions, helping them win the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup as well as promotion to the Northern Premier League in 2009.

His efforts for the Sheffield club earned him a move to Halifax Town in the summer of 2010.

The former Park Steels man went on to join Fleetwood in August 2011, and fired the Lancashire club towards promotion to League Two, while they have never returned to non-league since their fifth-tier title triumph in 2012.

Jamie Vardy's Leicester City legacy is unlikely to ever be matched

Vardy's Leicester stint, which lasted from 2012 until 2025, is one of modern football's true fairytales.

When the man, who was released by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager, joined the Foxes, his only ever senior appearances in the game had been in non-league.

Vardy initially struggled to adjust to the demands of the Championship, scoring just four goals in 26 second-tier outings in the 2012/13 campaign.

By the 2013/14 season, though, the striker was a valuable asset for Leicester, notching 16 goals in 37 league appearances, helping his club win promotion to the Premier League.

The England international then went on to help the Foxes stay in the top flight by scoring five goals and producing eight assists the following campaign.

His most notable performance in the 2014/15 season arrived in September 2014, when he scored a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-3 victory over Manchester United.

However, the best was still yet to come for Vardy, who spearheaded Leicester's miraculous Premier League title-clinching efforts, scoring 24 goals in the 2015/16 top-flight campaign.

The former Fleetwood man went on to establish himself as one of the best Premier League strikers in modern times, before winning the FA Cup with the Foxes in 2021.

Vardy then proved he still had what it took to score regularly in the Championship in the 2023/24 season, playing a key role in Leicester's title-winning efforts.

The Cremonese man is a Foxes legend whose legacy at the King Power Stadium may never be matched, with two Championship titles, the Premier League trophy, an FA Cup and the Community Shield under his belt.