Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter by email with the day's key headlines and transfer news Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

England take on Panama in the World Cup for the very first time on Sunday.

But the difference between the English and Panama Premier Leagues is mind-blowing.

In the Panama Premier League players patiently queue up for their wages each fortnight as club secretaries give them hand-written pay cheques.

Some in the Panama squad who will line-up against England tomorrow earn just £250 a week.

Raheem Sterling takes home £180,000 a week and it will take him just 12 HOURS to earn what their players earn in a YEAR.

(Image: AFP)

We met Panama international Carlos Small who laughed as talked about the financial comparisons between the two Premier Leagues.

He said: “Here is Panama football players can make more money if they leave to become builders, bricklayers or even singers.

“Many players leave the game because they need to earn a higher wage for their families. That sums it up.”

(Image: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

He and and team-mates dream of making it to Europe - and England in particular - to sign a contract with one of the big clubs.

Every two weeks Small lines up with the rest of his team-mates to collect his fortnightly pay cheque - all clubs in the league do the same.

As we chat outside the tiny ramshackle ground a team-mate shouts across to him.

“Hey Carlos do you know if we are getting paid today?”

He smiles and shouts back. “Yes I think so. I hope so.”

(Image: DAILY MIRROR)

So off they all went to pick up their cheques and later visit the local bank to deposit them in their accounts.

Small played for Panama in their final warm-up games but was devastated to be cut from the final squad.

But he is desperate for all his team-mates to do well and he hopes to play in Qatar.

(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

His friends Alex Rodriguez, Valentin Pimentel and Jose Calderon are all still playing in the local league.

They will be in the 23 to play Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions side tomorrow.

Small broke off from training for his club side Arabe Unido in the seaside city of Colon to speak to the Mirror.

He laughed: “There’s certainly a big difference.

(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

“I hear of how much money the England players earn each week. It is genuinely beyond belief to any players here in Panama.

“I watch the Premier League matches on TV. Manchester City are a brilliant team – they are my favourites.

“It would be amazing if I ever got the chance to play for them or another big English team.

“It would change my family’s life forever.”

(Image: DAILY MIRROR)

Small lives barely a mile from the stadium in Colon with his girlfriend and their nine month old baby son.

He is the same age as Raheem Sterling and they were both born in cities on the Caribbean.

Small in Colon and Sterling in Kingston, Jamaica.

(Image: DAILY MIRROR)

But Small arrives at training in a secondhand Kia Rio worth £900 while Sterling drives Bentley worth £500,000 and also has two Audis, a Mercedes and a Landrover in his garage.

Arabe Unido played San Francisco in a 1-1 draw in the final match of the season. They finished top but there was barely 300 people there.

At the Estadio Armando Dely Valdes stadium it cost £4.35 to get in.

Usually there is no match programme but there was today as it was such a big game.

It’s a far cry from the sell-out match between England and Panama tomorrow in Nizny Novogorod.