Football's Big Earners
By Asif Hossain
Posted on February 23, 2010
The top 50 highest paid footballers list was revealed by Portuguese marketing company Futebol Finance last week and it is no surprise that English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga players make up a whopping 76% of the group.
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Ronaldo, seen here on his visit to Toronto in 2009, is football's highest paid player. (Paul Giamou) |
England outpaces Spain by 21 players to 17 when counting January transfer window acquisition Patrick Vieira, who fell out of favour in Italy with Internazionale.
Chelsea along with Barcelona, the Spanish and European champions, make up the highest numbers for any club with eight each on the list. England’s nouveau riche kids Manchester City take up seven and Real Madrid occupies six places.
All players are European based, but North America is represented via Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Beckham, who shares his playing time between Major League Soccer and Italian Serie A side AC Milan to stay fit for a shot at England’s World Cup squad.
While it is no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest paid player earning € 13 million ($18.5 million Cdn.), it is a bit shocking that there are 33 players better paid than Fernando Torres of Liverpool, including Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger and Freddy Kanouté of Sevilla. Both are great players in their own right but certainly no reasonable person would pick them ahead of Torres on a squad list.
Liverpool supporters are right to worry about the club’s finances should Torres ever want to be compensated at the level of his contemporaries such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Karim Benzema, sixth and seventh respectively in the rankings.
In the unfettered free market world of European football, money alone wins trophies and invitations to finals. While this may seem unfair to supporters of smaller clubs, it has to be noted that the big spending sides generate a great deal of revenue that trickles down to the minnows, particularly in England where a club could finish in the relegation zone and still earn a hefty check for tens of millions from revenue sharing.
Aside from revenue the top spenders also generate new investment in other clubs. Unable to purchase a top four side in England, investors scooped up Aston Villa and Manchester City in recent years and it is difficult to deny that there is tremendous competition in the English league table as a result.
Similar new investment hasn't happened outside the top end of the table in Spain yet to the degree it has been seen in England. But it's a matter of time before foreign investors see opportunities there, particularly should England suddenly have six or seven competitive sides each year.
List of top 50 earners in world football according to Futebol Finance
1 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid CF € 13.000.000
2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - FC Barcelona € 12.000.000
3 Lionel Messi - FC Barcelona €10.500.000
4 Samuel Eto’o - Internazionale € 10.500.000
5 Ricardo Kaká - Real Madrid CF € 10.000.000
6 Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City € 8.500.000
7 Karim Benzema - Real Madrid CF € 8.500.000
8 Carlos Tevez - Manchester City € 8.000.000
9 John Terry - Chelsea FC € 7.500.000
10 Frank Lampard - Chelsea FC € 7.500.000
11 Thierry Henry - FC Barcelona € 7.500.000
12 Xavi - FC Barcelona € 7.500.000
13 Ronaldinho Gaúcho - AC Milan € 7.500.000
14 Steven Gerrard - Liverpool FC € 7.500.000
15 Daniel Alves - FC Barcelona € 7.000.000
16 Michael Ballack - Chelsea FC € 6.500.000
17 Raúl Gonzalez - Real Madrid CF € 6.500.000
18 Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United FC € 6.500.000
19 Kolo Touré - Manchester City FC € 6.500.000
20 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United FC € 6.000.000
21 Robinho - Manchester City FC € 6.000.000
22 Iker Casillas - Real Madrid CF € 6.000.000
23 Victor Valdéz - FC Barcelona € 6.000.000
24 Frederic Kanouté - Sevilla FC € 6.000.000
25 Deco - Chelsea FC € 6.000.000
26 Didier Drogba - Chelsea FC € 5.500.000
27 Gianluigi Buffon - Juventus € 5.500.000
28 Francesco Totti - AS Roma € 5.500.000
29 Luca Toni - AS Roma € 5.500.000
30 David Villa - Valência € 5.500.000
31 Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich € 5.500.000
32 Bastian Schweinsteiger - Bayern Munich € 5.500.000
33 Ashley Cole - Chelsea FC € 5.500.000
34 Fernando Torres - Liverpool FC € 5.500.000
35 Gareth Barry - Manchester City FC € 5.500.000
36 Patrick Vieira – Internazionale/Manchester City € 5.500.000
37 Charles Puyol - FC Barcelona € 5.000.000
38 Andres Iniesta - FC Barcelona € 5.000.000
39 Sergio Aguero - Atletico Madrid € 5.000.000
40 Andreas Pirlo - AC Milan € 5.000.000
41 Joe Cole - Chelsea FC € 5.000.000
42 Frank Ribery - Bayern Munich € 5.000.000
43 David Bechkam - LA Galaxy/AC Milan € 5.000.000
44 Wayne Bridge - Manchester City FC € 5.000.000
45 Lassana Diarra - Real Madrid CF € 5.000.000
46 Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United FC € 4.800.000
47 Andrei Arshavin - Arsenal FC € 4.800.000
48 Nicolas Anelka - Chelsea FC € 4.800.000
49 Ryan Giggs - Manchester United FC € 4.800.000
50 Alessandro Del Piero – Juventus € 4.800.000
