Sport
Highest paid football players | Top 10
Earlier this year, France Football revealed a list of highest paid football players in the world.
Like the previous year, Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi was first ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. The first and second positions are usually predictable but who are the rest of the highest-paid football players in the world? Here are the top ten.
Highest paid football players in the world
10. Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain – €27m
France Football estimate Mbappé’s income to be €27 million. The France international is considered a future Ballon d’Or winner and one of the biggest football talents currently active. It is surely only his age that currently precludes Kylian Mbappé from being amongst the best-paid footballers in the world. The 21-year-old is acknowledged as the most valuable footballer in the world but earns less than half the wage of his teammate Neymar.
9. Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich – €29m
The Poland international is one of the best strikers in the world – if not the very best – having scored 236 goals in 321 appearances in the German Bundesliga, one goal every 109 minutes, and 62 goals in 86 Champions League appearances. Lewandowski earns about €15 million at Bayern Munich but supplements his salary with a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike.
8. Raheem Sterling – Manchester City – €33m
France Football estimates that Raheem Sterling earns around €33m a year, €18.5m in yearly wages, €2.3m in bonuses, and €13m of advertising contracts on top of that. The England international signed a collaboration with Zion Williamson and agreed to a sponsorship with Nike Air Jordan for the next ten years, worth around £9.3m a year. The Manchester City striker has also signed deals with Gillette, H&M and EA Sports.
7. Andrés Iniesta – Vissel Kobe – €34m
After two decades at Barcelona in which he winning the World Cup and the Champions League four times, the now 36-year-old is currently playing for the Japanese club, Vissel Kobe. The central midfielder moved to the Japanese J-League in 2018, receiving a huge pay rise in the process. The former Spain international is the biggest star in the Japanese first division and the only player in this list not playing in one of the European “big five” leagues.
6. Eden Hazard – Real Madrid – €38m
After his transfer to the Spanish capital, Eden Hazard has become the second-highest earner at Real Madrid and the 6th highest-paid player worldwide. The former Chelsea star pockets about €450.000 per week after having signed a five-year deal with Los Blancos. Adding sponsor deals, one of them being on the cover of FIFA 2020, he earns about €38m a year in total.
5. Antoine Griezmann – FC Barcelona – €38m
Griezmann received a huge pay-rise when he moved from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona last year, making him the 5th highest-paid football player in the world. The French forward earns close to €40m per year including a base salary of around €21m. The France international almost doubles that amount because of his endorsement deals with Puma, EA Sports, Beats Electronics, Head & Shoulders, Gillette and Huawei.
4. Gareth Bale – Real Madrid – €38m
Though the Welshman appeared only 12 times in the starting eleven with Real Madrid in La Liga last season, Gareth Bale is fourth on the list of highest-paid football players in the world. The 31-year old has fallen out of favour with Real Madrid but still has a contract for two more years which the club would love to end. Bale is believed to earn about €15m after taxes at Los Blancos, supplementing his wage with multiple sponsorships and Instagram posts that can make more than €150k each.
3. Neymar – Paris Saint-German – €95m
Paris-Saint Germain star Neymar is assumed to be earning a total of €95m per year, almost three times as much than the Gareth Bale. At just 28-years-old, the former Santos starlet is on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest sportsmen in the world. Neymar earns about €36m a year at Parc des Princes, which totals to be over €700,000 a week, more than double of what he used to receive at Barcelona. Next to his salary, the Brazil international also receives from sponsorship deals with Nike, Gillette, Beats Electronics and Red Bull.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – Juventus – €118m
Though Ronaldo took a small wage cut when moving from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018, the Portugal international remains one of the biggest earners in football, a reflection of his incredible scoring record. His contract at Juventus is believed to be worth €30m a year. He is, by far, the best-paid player in the Italian Serie A. Complementing his wage, the 35-year-old has sponsorship deals across a variety of industries with Nike, Tag Heuer, Egyptian Steel, Herbalife, Clear, PokerStars, Italia Independent and Castrol. Ronaldo also has created his brand name called CR7, centered around underwear but also including various other clothing products.
1. Lionel Messi – FC Barcelona – €131m
The Barcelona star was ranked first among the sportsmen on Forbe’s list of the 100 highest-earning celebrities in 2019, setting his income for the year at around €131m. According to a report by Football Leaks, Messi is said to be earning around a whopping €2million-a-week with his contract at Barcelona. But, similar to Ronaldo, Messi makes a lot of money on the side because of sponsorship deals with Adidas and others, making the best footballer of his generation the highest-paid football player in the world too.
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