The 50 Highest Paid Players in Football 2010

Filed in archive Players on February 25, 2010

Proving that all the money is indeed in European football, the 50 highest earning footballers in the world have appeared in a list compiled by Futebol Finance. It makes an interesting and rather surprising read at times.

One Cristiano Ronaldo does, of course, appear at the top of the list, a clear €1 million a year ahead of second place. The top ten consists of two more of his team mates at the decadent Real Madrid, with Kaka in 5th and Benzema in 7th.

Second and third place make Spain's the League with the most highest-paid players. Third place sees the once-highest paid Lionel Messi on €10.5 million a year while, somehow, the vastly undeserving Zlatan Ibrahimovic is way out in front with €12 million.

While Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o appears in 4th place (I am sure some of the money they earned in the most ridiculous deal in the sport's history when Barcelona swapped their Champions League final goalscorer Eto'o for Ibrahimovic plus £40 million has made his salary easy to pay), Serie A has a disappointing representation on the list, their only other player in the top 25 being AC's Ronaldinho.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of Premier League players, them rather inevitably being Man City and Chelsea players. The different attitudes, though, are quite apparent, as Chelsea's highest players are two old staples of the club John Terry and Frank Lampard, while two of City's latest attacking signings Tevez and Adebayor are their highest earners.

It makes for interesting reading to see the likes of Gareth Barry on the same wage as Fernando Torres....