Nadir Hifi’s improbable climb from trainee status to Betclic ELITE’s top French salary

Nadir Hifi has entered a different tier. The change is visible on the court — more strength, more authority — but it’s just as stark on the balance sheet. A few seasons removed from his professional debut, the Paris Basketball guard is now the highest-paid French player in Betclic ELITE, with Maxi-Basket reporting a salary that reaches the one-million-euro mark for the 2025–26 season. By the standards of French basketball, it’s a leap that still feels slightly unreal.

An extraordinary salary progression

In 2021–22, Nadir Hifi’s introduction to the professional game came quietly, in an ESSM Le Portel jersey. At the time, he was still on a trainee contract — a low-key entry into Betclic ELITE, far from the spotlight and even further from any financial ceiling.

The following season, in 2022–23, the gap between role and reward became striking. As Hifi emerged as the northern club’s offensive focal point, his salary remained at the league minimum, around €25,000 for the year — a modest figure given both his athletic impact and statistical breakout.

The summer of 2023 marked the first real turning point. Recruited by Paris Basketball, he signed a deal estimated at €175,000 for the 2023–24 season, a sevenfold increase in income in a single year. The upward trajectory continued in 2024–25, with his salary rising again, this time to around €250,000.

The face of the Parisian project

The real break came in the summer of 2025. On the back of his performances and his new standing in the league — and with interest from AS Monaco — Nadir Hifi saw his salary quadruple, reaching the symbolic one-million-euro threshold and making him the highest-paid French player in Betclic ELITE.

Beyond the number itself, the move sends a clear message from Paris Basketball. The club is choosing continuity, entrusting one of its leaders to carry the project on both the domestic stage and in the EuroLeague.

In the space of four seasons, Hifi has gone from trainee status to the face of an ambitious organization — a path that remains exceedingly rare in modern French basketball, reflecting both his rapid rise and the new economic scale some French clubs are now willing to embrace.