Highest-Paid Footballer: The Top 10 List

One of England’s best strikers of all time famously said that football is “not just about scoring goals - it’s about winning.” Alan Shearer might have been talking about the game, but footballers are also recording victories off the field.

Whether through salaries or endorsements, football players are some of the world’s highest-paid athletes. That’s not surprising since the world’s most beautiful game also happens to be a multi-billion pound industry.

When it comes to naming the world’s highest-paid footballer, everyone’s attention turns to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. You don’t need help from your sportsbook to figure that one out. But how do these two superstars compare to other top earners? In this article, we’ll look at the numbers behind the game’s most valued players.

10. David De Gea, Manchester United

Total Earnings: £19.5 million

Annual Salary: £17.5 million

Sponsorship: £2 million

The only goalkeeper on our list of highest-paid footballers is David De Gea. The Spanish goalie broke countless records during his many appearances for Manchester United. He set his first benchmark when he joined the club in 2011 and became the highest-paid goalkeeper in the Premier League, earning £18.9 million. By July 2020, David De Gea surpassed Peter Schmeichel’s clean sheet record.

In addition to his salary from the Reds, the goalkeeper also earns around £2 million from endorsement deals with Adidas and Pepsi.

9. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich

Total Earnings: £20.5 million

Yearly Salary: £17.5 million

Sponsorship: £3 million

Another star among top-earning footballers is the captain of Poland’s national team and forward for Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski. He was named the Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year in 2020, which isn’t surprising. That same year he secured a treble by being the top scorer in the DFB-Pokal, the Bundesliga, and the Champions League. He has earned the VDV Bundesliga Player of the Season title four times, with more than 250 goals scored.

When he’s not dancing on TikTok, he promotes brands like Nike, Huawei, EA Sports, Gillette, and Opel.

8. Gareth Bale, Real Madrid

Total Earnings: £21 million

Yearly Salary: £16 million

Sponsorship: £5 million

While top players may experience a drop in their form, their earnings don’t have to. The most expensive footballer for the club is the one that spends the season mainly on the bench. After an uneventful season with Real Madrid, Gareth Bale bounced back while on loan at Tottenham. The club will have the first refusal on him, as his Real Madrid contract expires soon.

Gareth Bale’s endorsements included brands like Adidas, Lucozade, Nissan, and Konami. His next contract is yet to be hammered out, but the odds are wemay see him drop from the list of top-paid footballers.

7. Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona

Total Earnings: £24 million

Yearly Salary: £20 million

Sponsorship: £4 million

Even though this French player is currently struggling with his performance at Barcelona, he holds the record as the fifth most expensive transfer in football history. While it remains to be seen if Barcelona will swap him for another player, Griezmann had significant financial success.

Deals with Puma, Head & Shoulders, and Gillette nudged this player into our list of the top 10 highest paid footballers.

Antoine’s Grizi Esport team competes in games like Fortnite, CS:GO, Rainbow Six, and FIFA. This may come as little surprise to Fortnite fans who saw him perform the “Take the L” dance during the FIFA 2018 World Cup.

6. Paul Pogba, Manchester United

Total Earnings: £25 million

Yearly Salary: £20 million

Sponsorship: £5 million

Another Manchester United player on our list is Paul Pogba. His move from Juventus to Old Trafford set the record for the most expensive transfer in 2016. In addition to being one of the world’s best midfielders, the playmaker is also among the 10 highest-paid football players.

He also enjoys lucrative sponsorship deals with Adidas and EA Sports. Last summer, Pogba alarmed fans when he announced that he had signed with Verdansk FC. Luckily for Manchester, the team isn’t real, and the whole thing turned out to be a PR stunt to promote the new season of Call of Duty: Warzone.

5. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Total Earnings: £27 million

Yearly Salary: £17.5 million

Sponsorship: £9.5 million

The most paid footballer in Liverpool and number five globally is Mohamed Salah. The forward enjoyed a great deal of success at Anfield following his transfer from Roma. Salah joined the select company of players who scored 100 or more goals for Liverpool and remains in good form after opening the 2020/21 season with a hat trick.

His success extends to sponsorship deals with DHL, Adidas, ExxonMobil, Electronic Arts, and Vodafone. His Vodafone deal saw him become an ambassador for a UN programme that educates refugees in his home country, Egypt.

4. Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain

Total Earnings: £30 million

Yearly Salary: £20 million

Sponsorship: £10 million

The highest-paid footballer, who is also the youngest among the top ten, is Kylian Mbappe. The winner of the Ligue 1 Golden Boot two years in a row proved his value by becoming the top-scoring player in the league. Mbappe’s transfer to PSG is the second most expensive transfer of all time, which is well earned by the position he established in the team.

Fans of France’s national team will always remember him for scoring four goals during the FIFA 2018 World Cup that sealed his team’s victory in the finals.

His most significant endorsements are from Nike and EA Sports.

3. Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, Paris Saint-Germain

Total Earnings: £70 million

Yearly Salary: £57 million

Sponsorship: £13 million

Neymar has been the highest-paid football player in Paris Saint-Germain since leaving Barcelona in 2017. The club paid £191 million just to bring the Brazilian striker to Paris.

While often polarising as a player, his transfer reflects PSG’s ambitions for the Champions League title. However, the Brazilian got his 2020/21 season off to a rough start after receiving a red card for hitting Alvaro Gonzalez on the back of the head.

After ending his sponsorship with Nike, Neymar signed an endorsement deal with Puma. His antics are the main reason why his sponsorship deals are less lucrative than those of his counterparts.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus

Total Earnings: £85 million

Yearly Salary: £51 million

Sponsorship: £34 million

Cristiano Ronaldo is the second richest footballer in the world. With more than 450 million followers on social media, it’s easy to see how Ronaldo can earn more than double from sponsorship deals than Neymar.

By promoting his CR7 brand and endorsements with Nike, Herbalife, and many others, Ronaldo earns more from these deals than any other player in the world.

He is more than just a popular player. Aside from Iran’s Ali Daei, Ronaldo is the only other player who scored more than 100 goals in international matches.

1. Lionel Messi, Barcelona

Total Earnings: £92 million

Yearly Salary: £67 million

Sponsorship: £25 million

The highest-paid footballer in the world is none other than Lionel Messi. According to many pundits, he is the best player on the planet, winning more than 30 trophies with Barcelona, where he spent his whole career. However, his contract is due to expire this summer, with Manchester City and PSG showing interest in hiring the Argentinian.

It comes as no surprise that Messi earns around £25 million from endorsements. Companies like Huawei, Gatorade, Adidas, Mastercard, Pepsi, and others have all worked with the famous player.

Lionel Messi is the second billionaire footballer after Christiano Ronaldo.