By Mark Baber
April 14 – Lionel Messi tops ‘France Football’ magazine’s annual ranking of the highest paid footballers, becoming the first footballer in history to earn more than €70 million in a year.
The Barça striker accumulated some € 74 million of revenue, spread mainly between a salary of €36 million, bonuses of €3 million and “other revenue,” from sponsors such as Adidas, Ooredoo, EA Sports, and Gatorade, estimated at € 35 million. This was enough to keep him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, who despite seeing his income rise by € 13.4 million, had to settle for just € 67.4 million.
The top three is completed by Neymar, who follows on some way behind on €43.5 million of earnings, up €8 million on last year.
So the top three earners have now remained the same for three years in succession.
France Football ranking of the 10 best-paid players:
- Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – €74 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) €67.4 million
- Neymar (Barcelona) €43.5 million
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris SG) €28.5 million
- Thiago Silva (Paris SG) €26.5 million
- Angel Di Maria (Paris SG) €26 million
- Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) €24.5 million
- Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) €23.6 million
- Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) €22 million
- Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona) €21.5 million
The estimates were based on players’ pre-tax salaries, sponsorship revenues and various bonuses.
Lionel Messi’s trial on tax fraud charges is set to begin on May 31 in Barcelona, whilst Neymar was ordered to pay €45.9 million in back taxes, interest and fines by a federal court in Brazil after being found guilty of tax evasion last month.
In a similar ranking of coaches, Jose Mourinho, who parted company with Chelsea by “mutual consent” in December, was estimated to be the highest earning coach on €24 million, with Pep Guardiola and Fabio Capello in second and third places respectively.
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