The 50 Best Paid Footballers in the World
By: Daryl | February 28th, 2008
Prepare to be jealous. And if you’re Darren Bent then prepare to be embarrassed. A Portuguese finance website recently released a list (below) of the 50 highest earning footballers in the world, and the exact amounts they pocket for playing (in €uros.) No video game or hair gel endorsements are included, just the annual amount each player receives in salary.
Top earner is Ricky Kaka, who pulls in nine million euros a year from Milan. Because he’s worth it. Ronaldinho comes a close second, getting just over eight and half million euros. He used to be worth every penny. There are one or two shocks too, and one or two players who aren’t exactly earning their money. Does Darren Bent really deserve to be the 19th best paid footballer in the world?
1. Ricardo Kaka (AC Milan) 9.000.000 €
2. Ronaldinho Gaucho (FC Barcelona) 8.520.000 €
3. Frank Lampard (Chelsea FC) 8.160.000 €
4. John Terry (Chelsea FC) 8.160.000 €
5. Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC) 7.920.000 €
6. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea FC) 7.800.000 €
7. Michael Ballack (Chelsea FC) 7.800.000 €
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd) 7.680.000 €
9. Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona) 7.680.000 €
10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC) 7.680.000 €
11. Didier Drogba (Chelsea FC) 7.380.000 €
12. Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd) 7.320.000 €
13. Iker Casillas (CF Real Madrid) 7.200.000 €
14. Michael Owen (Newcastle Utd) 6.720.000 €
15. Sol Campbell (Portsmouth) 6.600.000 €
16. Raul Gonzalez (CF Real Madrid) 6.420.000 €
17. Ruud Van Nistelrooy (CF Real Madrid) 6.420.000 €
18. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester Utd) 6.060.000 €
19. Darren Bent (Tottenham Hotspur) 5.940.000 €
20. Carlos Tevez (Manchester Utd) 5.880.000 €
21. Fabio Cannavaro (CF Real Madrid) 5.880.000 €
22. Luca Toni (Bayern Munich) 5.520.000 €
23. Robinho (CF Real Madrid) 5.520.000 €
24. Francesco Totti (AS Roma) 5.460.000 €
25. Arjen Robben (CF Real Madrid) 5.340.000
26. Ryan Giggs (Manchester Utd) 5.220.000 €
27. Michael Essien (Chelsea FC) 5.040.000 €
28. Adriano Lima (Internazionale) 5.004.000 €
29. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Internazionale) 5.004.000 €
30. Patrick Vieira (Internazionale) 5.004.000 €
31. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus FC) 5.004.000 €
32. Samuel Eto’o (FC Barcelona) 5.004.000 €
33. Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona) 5.004.000 €
34. Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid) 5.004.000 €
35. Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich) 4.944.000 €
36. Edwin Van der Sar (Manchester Utd) 4.860.000 €
37. Fernando Morientes (Valência) 4.860.000 €
38. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus FC) 4.800.000 €
39. Harry Kewell (Liverpool FC) 4.800.000 €
40. Djibril Cisse (O.Marseille) 4.800.000 €
41. Joe Cole (Chelsea FC) 4.680.000 €
42. Pedro Pauleta (Paris SG) 4.608.000 €
43. Juninho Pernanbucano (O.Lyon) 4.560.000 €
44. David Beckham (LA Galaxy) 4.500.000 €
45. David Trezeguet (Juventus FC) 4.500.000 €
46. Sidney Govou (O.Lyon) 4.500.000 €
47. Deco (FC Barcelona) 4.500.000 €
48. Gianluca Zambrotta (FC Barcelona) 4.500.000 €
49. Petr Cech (Chelsea FC) 4.320.000 €
50. Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria) 4.200.000 €
Inara over at Lyon Offside spotted this first and she also worked out how many players each club has in the top 50:
Chelsea (8 players), Real Madrid (6 players), Barcelona (6 players), Manchester United (6 players), Liverpool (3 players), Inter (3 players), Juventus (3 players), Bayern Munich (2 players), Lyon (2 players), AC Milan (1 player), Portsmouth (1 player), Newcastle (1 player), Spurs (1 player), Roma (1 player), Atletico Madrid (1 player), Valencia (1 player), Marseille (1 player), PSG (1 player), LA Galaxy (1 player), Sampdoria (1 player)
The top 50 highest salaries are spread amongst just twenty clubs, and all but LA Galaxy are European. And 26 of these players (over half) play for just four clubs – Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United.
The list really brings home just how much cash Chelsea are splashing out (especially on a waster like Andriy Shevchenko) and how much Premier League clubs are frittering away in general. The likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Newcastle must have regrets about how much they’re paying Darren Bent, Harry Kewell and Michael Owen versus what they’re getting in return. And despite all the Premier League salaries in this top fifty, one club is noticeable by its absence. And right now that club is three points clear at the top.
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Category: World Football
Tags: Bundesliga, Darren Bent, David Beckham, Harry Kewell, Kaka, LA Galaxy, La Liga, Ligue 1, Michael Owen, Premier League, Ronaldinho, Serie A, World Football, World SoccerSubscribe
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Comments
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Antonio Cassano’s salary isn’t completely paid by Sampdoria, they could never afford it. They only pay 20% of his salary, while Real pay the other 80%.
Posted from
United States
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You know what else struck me about this list? The lack of German teams. Besides Bayern, who have surprisingly only two representatives, no other German teams are on the list. I would have thought we’d see Van der Vaart or Klose or even Ribery! France has four players from three different teams despite having higher taxes.
No Dutch or Portuguese representation either.
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Pretty amazing … Chelsea almost fields a whole side on this list. Eight. Crazy.
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#19 Bent. Makes more money than Keane and is not on the England squad. Stupid.
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United States -
If I’m a pro soccer player, I want Darren Bent’s agent.
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United States -
Couldn’t help but notice, the one big English club not on the list – Arsenal. And with all that money Emirates is making them.
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I was noticing two things about Liverpool: First, it appears they only have two players on the list. And Second, although I can certainly understand paying Gerrard, how the hell did Harry Kewell get on this list!?! Forget Bent’s agent, I would want Kewell’s!!!
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United States -
LOL Beckham is on the list?
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United States -
Inara, Bundesliga clubs often make contracts with a low base salary and lots of performance related bonus payments, which might explain it a bit.
I think Diego earns around €4m which sees him missing out narrowly. Rafael van der Vaart was offered a new deal which would have been worth around €4,5m a year, but he didn’t accept it, since he feared a new contract would make him too expensive for other top clubs to buy him.
Posted from
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Thanks for the clear up, Jan, as it explains some notable absences on that list (especially Ribery and Klose).
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United States -
jeremy – does that make you think that wenger has some sort of huge coup setting up for the summer? i know it’s been slightly reported that they have a massive war chest building…but are they gonna splash down on some big shot striker/center forward type and ditch having to wait around on van persie?
sam eto’o anybody? benzema?
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United States -
When I first saw this, I was confused. I didn’t understand how David Beckham was in 44th place with only four and a half million Euros, when everyone remembers the stories when he signed for the Galaxy that he’d be making $250 million free and clear.
Then I remembered: €4.5 million is $250 million. Simple. Also, Kaka is making more money than the GDP of New York.
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ac milan only 1 player in the top 50 and the defending uefa champions league winners. goes to show money does not guarantee trophies
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Milan also has a payroll more than the combined salaries of the 3rd, 4th and 5th teams in Serie A, and are easily the biggest spending team in Italy. Just because they spread out it out doesn’t mean they’re fiscally responsible.
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Primo_Piano/2007/09_Settembre/11/popup_guadagni.shtml
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United States -
Messi
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:cough: :cough:
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where the hell is messi?!
Posted from
United States
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