Sign up or login to track your favorite teams

Sign Up for Bleacher Report

As a registered user you can subscribe to your favorite teams, post comments, write your own articles, and much more.

You must register in order for that functionality to work!







Validating sign up form ...

Bleacher Report articles are written by fans like you

Do you want to cover your favorite sports, teams, and leagues?

Processing writing preferences ...

Great, , you're signed up!

i.e. Big 10, LeBron James, USC Football

Selected Tags:

Logging in ...

Futebol Finance, a Portuguese website specialising in football economy, published the list of the highest paid players in Football.Golden boot Kaka is number one on the list, followed by Ronaldinho and Frank Lampard...

The 50 Highest Paid Players in European Football

by Clement Andreau (Scribe)

27

20,815 reads

Sports

February 28, 2008


Futebol Finance, a Portuguese website specialising in football economy, published the list of the highest paid players in Football.

Golden boot Kaka is number one on the list, followed by Ronaldinho and Frank Lampard.

The EPL is the most represented League with 20 players. One surprising thing—some of these players are not from the four big dogs. Michael Owen from Newcastle Utd ranks 14th, Portsmouth's defender Sol Campbell is 15th, and Darren Bent from Tottenham comes in 19th place.

Real Madrid and Barcelona both have six players in the rank, confirming their financial power. Italy is also well represented, Inter and Juventus have three players in the rank, Roma with Totti and Cassano for Sampdoria are also there. French League only has four players, O.M's Cissé being the highest paid player in France.

Without  any surprise, David Beckham is the only non-European based player, but he only comes in  44th position. This is because the list doesnt add the sponsorship contracts—it only accounts for the salary clubs give to players per month.

Here is the list:

1. Ricardo Kaka AC Milan—750.000 €

2. Ronaldinho Gaucho FC Barcelone—710.000 €

3. Frank Lampard Chelsea FC—680.000 €

4. John Terry Chelsea FC—680.000 €

5. Fernando Torres Liverpool FC—660.000 €

6. Andriy Shevchenko Chelsea FC—650.000 €

7. Michael Ballack Chelsea FC —650.000 €

8. Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester Utd—640.000 €

9. Thierry Henry FC Barcelone—640.000 €

10. Steven Gerrard Liverpool FC—640.000 €

11. Didier Drogba Chelsea FC—615.000 €

12. Wayne Rooney Manchester Utd—610.000 €

13. Iker Casillas CF Real Madrid—600.000 €

14. Michael Owen Newcastle Utd—560.000 €

15. Sol Campbell Portsmouth—550.000 €

16. Raul Gonzalez CF Real Madrid—535.000 €

17. Ruud Van Nistelrooy CF Real Madrid—535.000 €

18. Rio Ferdinand Manchester Utd—505.000

19. Darren Bent Tottenham Hotspur—495.000

20. Carlos Tevez Manchester Utd—490.000 €

21. Fabio Cannavaro CF Real Madrid—490.000 €

22. Luca Toni Bayern Munich—460.000 €

23. Robinho CF Real Madrid—460.000 €

24. Francesco Totti AS Roma—455.000 €

25. Arjen Robben CF Real Madrid—445.000 €

26. Ryan Giggs Manchester Utd—435.000 €

27. Michael Essien Chelsea FC—420.000 €

28. Adriano Lima Inter Milan—417.000 €

29. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Inter Milan—417.000 €

30. Patrick Vieira Inter Milan—417.000 €

31. Gianluigi Buffon Juventus FC—417.000 €

32. Samuel Eto´o FC Barcelone—417.000 €

33. Charles Puyol FC Barcelone—417.000 €

Track this Article on My B/R
Flag This Article
Share This Article

27 comments Last one added 4 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Matt S about 1 year ago

    Are these figures for monthly salaries? I assume so as they look a bit too high to be weekly!

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  2. Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

    Yes they are, I am gonna fix that up now. Thanks Matt

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  3. Matt S about 1 year ago

    No problem, was just wondering. I'm always interested to see lists like these - I'm not sure where they get their figures from but I always deem them more accurate and reliable than what you hear quoted in the tabloid press!

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  4. Mark Syrett about 1 year ago

    What would beckhams be in euros???

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  5. Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

    44. David Beckham LA Galaxy—375.000 €/ per month. He also has lots of huge sponsorship contracts, and on top of that I think he gets something on jerseys sale from the Galaxy. This is just hi salaryu as a player for L.A Galaxy

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  6. Matt S about 1 year ago

    Me again. Actually I'm not sure I quite believe that Darren Bent is on €495,000/month - this is around £80,000 a week and I understood that Tottenham have quite a rigid pay structure and only Woodgate and maybe Keane are on more than £50k a week (with Berbatov going up to this much if they can convince him to stay). So I'm not sure I believe that figure for Bent.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  7. David Small about 1 year ago

    Not a single Arsenal player on the list....

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  8. Simon Williams about 1 year ago

    How are these figures even known?

    The list must be a mixture of speculation and pure fantasy, as they have no reason to know how much players earn with any degree of certainty.

    No doubt many of the players on there are among the highest paid, but many of the figures must just be made up.

    Even if they got the figures directly from players/agents, how can we believe they are true? Wouldn't an agent deliberately enhance the level of his players deal, so that clubs looking at signing him know the sort of wages he is after? (thus increasing the agent's ten percent)

    Call me a cynic, but lists such as this just make me think they have made the whole thing up using a hat full of names and a hat full of sums.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  9. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    I thought Lampard and Terry were paid 120K pounds a week?

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  10. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Where is David Villa?

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  11. Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

    Here is the link from the website. Futebol Finance is a e serious website, and for those of you who understand portuguese, you ll see on the website that they seem pretty serious with the figures they have here. http://www.futebolfinance.com/salarios-dos-jogadores-de-futebol-0708/

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  12. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    whats the hell is harry kewell on the list for? number 39, thats one hell of a lot of sick pay

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  13. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    I heard Lampard eats his weight in lard each week and that is why he needs to be paid so much.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  14. S B about 1 year ago

    Shouldn't there be a picture of a Brazilian up there before the article.....seeing as they earn the most and all.
    Also Beckham does not play in Europe.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

    • Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

      "David Beckham is the only non-European based player" I wrote Footbal first but someone corrected it in "European Football".
      I was looking for Kaka's picture, but there wasn't any available on the site.

      Edit Comment Cancel

      Reply
      Great Comment (
      0
      )

  15. S B about 1 year ago

    Clement
    You should complain or something.
    The editing has spoiled some key aspects of your article.

    Also you should look for another source of the same info if possible to silence
    the critics.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

    • Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

      If you have checked the link, can u at least confirm to the people who doubt of the numbers that futebol finance is actually a good and credible website?
      Thanks

      Edit Comment Cancel

      Reply
      Great Comment (
      0
      )

  1. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    It's never really been about the money at Arsenal, it's just that f** Ashley Cole. Greedy pig. Swerved off the road because he was getting 55k a week. People would kill to get a quarter of that in a year! Killed off whatever reputation he had left, he has.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  2. Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

    Yeah, Arsenal only takes young player and make then sign long contracts meanwhime they are still young, so they are not greedy yet. Also, Arsene knows how to make an "average" player, into a good one. Adebayor when he was playing in Monaco was an average striker in the French League. And look how good he is now, he even took Togo to the World Cup

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  3. S B about 1 year ago

    They are all "greedy pigs" they play to make a living......... they entertain you just like an actor or singer.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  4. Clement Andreau about 1 year ago

    "Greedy pigs" is a little too much, don't forget clubs and sponsors are making a lot of money too, and the salaries are just a small amount of what they earn.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  5. idy about 1 year ago

    clement can u publish the salary of arsenal players. would love to know what they earn to make them so coordinated, given the fact that none of them is in the top 50.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  6. ssesaazi george about 1 year ago

    Thats enough to show the world that chelsea fc is the richest club in the world.
    by ssesaazi@yahoo.com

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  7. francis onyenze about 1 year ago

    Chelseafc football players deserve even much more,because they have shown that are a dedicated,loyal,dependable side.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  8. ibukunola john 12 months ago

    i think this list has really shown and confirm that chelsea fc is the richest club in the world.Why on earth are there no arsenal players on the list.

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

  9. triple wolf 4 months ago

    manutdfcplayer deserve increase in their take homepay becos their show commitment, dedication,loyalityin their discharge of duty

    Edit Comment Cancel

    Reply
    Great Comment (
    0
    )

Leave a Comment

  • You must register to post a comment.

    • Want to write for Bleacher Report

    We are a community of fans who write about sports. And we're growing.

    Learn More and Sign Up »

    Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
    Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.