Many athletes turn to OnlyFans as a way to support their careers, with many like Chloe Paquet and Alexandre Muller, both tennis pros from France. But one futsal player was kicked out of her sport for doing exactly the same thing.

Marcela Soares played for Pelotas, a Brazilian futsal team located in Rio Grande do Sul state, until club officials discovered her OnlyFans and claimed that she had brought shame to the organization.

Futsal, a variant of soccer typically played indoors in a basketball-sized court, is wildly popular in South America and was the sport that Soares loved. She revealed in an interview: “I love futsal, it’s my passion forever. But I can’t stay somewhere that tries to control who I am outside of the game.

She continued: “I never stopped being the athlete I always was, and I never disrespected the club. But I was told I was setting a bad example for children.”

The 21-year-old didn’t agree with the backlash she faced. “I was judged, excluded and I felt betrayed even by other women. But I also gained something: freedom and financial independence. Today I feel stronger.”

As a professional futsal player, Soares made a meager R$550 (which is almost $98 USD) per month. That barely covered her travel costs to training, and was definitely not enough to live on. It’s no wonder the futsal player turned to OnlyFans to try to make ends meet.

And boy did it. Soares claims that she made R$55,000 (nearly $9,800 USD) in just four weeks on the platform.

She didn’t agree with the club’s decision to force her out over her OnlyFans account but is taking it in stride: “It’s sad but I leave the sport with a clear conscience. If I’d had this financial return from sport, I would never have left it.”

So instead of playing the sport she loves, Soares is focusing on becoming a content creator. In a time when athletes are struggling to make a living while pursuing their careers, this battle between individual athletes who turn to something like OnlyFans and the large organizations that refuse to adequately support their athletes will continue to grow.

Especially as OnlyFans has been actively pursuing athletes to join. In 2022, the platform began making sponsorship deals with a rising number of athletes, especially those typically overlooked by larger, more traditional brands. And these sponsorships aren’t just a small drop of support. OnlyFans seems to offer similar compensation and perks as corporate sponsors but with much more freedom of expression.

An OnlyFans spokesperson explained, “OnlyFans is passionate about providing opportunities for athletes in smaller, niche sports, recognizing that it is often harder for them to access funding and to reach a wide audience.”

And there’s no requirement to create any X-rated content. These athletes can post whatever they want, and many keep things totally safe for work. If you want to find more athletes on OnlyFans, you can head to their Sports section (yes, they have one) that features categories like racing, training combat sports, and golf and racket sports.