By Kaitlin Madden, CareerBuilder.com
The striker of the Spanish football club Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, earns $17 million per year.
HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The top five footballers in the world earned an average of $14.67 million.
- Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo earns $17.06 million per year
- Lionel Messi, 22, is the youngest among the highest-paid soccer stars at $13.74 million.
- Olympic medalist Samuel Eto’o has a contract worth $13.74 million
(Careerbuilder.com) — To most Americans, David Beckham is a soccer superstar. But to the rest of the world, he’s pretty much an average professional footballer – at least in terms of salary.
Beckham’s nearly $6.5 million annual contract doesn’t even make the list of the 20 highest-paid soccer stars and barely places him on the list of the sport’s 50 top earners.
Soccer Salaries vs. American Football
Although top athletes in neither sport are lacking in terms of base salary, NFL player salaries exceed those of professionals. /topics/Football” class=”cnnInlineTopic”>football players.
For the 2009–10 NFL season, the average salary of the five highest-paid players (not including endorsement contracts) was $20.32 million. For the top five footballers, salaries averaged $14.67 million.
In honor of /topics/World_Cup_Soccer” class=”cnnInlineTopic”>World Cuphere’s a look at the salaries that make it possible to be one of the world’s favorite sports stars.
The top 5
1. Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo, 25, takes first place.who earns $17.06 million* per year as a striker for the Spanish football club Real Madrid. Ronaldo, also captain of the Portuguese national team, is the most expensive footballer in history. Real Madrid bought him from English club Manchester United in 2009 for a cool $132 million.
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2. Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes in second, earning $15.7 million for the 2009-2010 season. The 29-year-old striker plays for Barcelona and the Swedish national team. Until Ronaldo signed his contract with Real Madrid in 2009, Ibrahimovic was the highest paid football player in football.
3. At 22, Lionel Messi is the youngest player to appear in the top 20 highest paid football stars. Messi’s contract for 2009-2010 is worth $13.74 million. Messi, the striker for Spanish club Barcelona, will represent his home country Argentina at this year’s World Cup.
4. Samuel Eto’o is the captain of the Cameroon national team and a member of Italian club Inter Milan, European champions. The forward was part of the team that won the 2000 Summer Olympics and will be competing in his third World Cup this year. His experience bore fruit; his current contract is worth $13.74 million.
5. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leitemore commonly known as Kaka by fans, completes the top five. Kaka, 27, is from Brazil and will earn $13.13 million as a Real Madrid midfielder this year. Before his teammate Ronaldo’s contract with Real Madrid, Kaka also spent time at the top of the list of highest-paid players.
The rest of the top 20
6. Karim Benzema
Country: France
Club team: Real Madrid
Age: 22 years old
Salary: $11.17 million
7. Carlos Tevez
Country: Argentina
Club team: Manchester City
Age: 26 years old
Salary: $10.57 million
8. John Terry
Country: England
Club team: Chelsea
Age: 29 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
9. Frank Lampard
Country: England
Club team: Chelsea
Age: 31 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
10.Thierry Henry
Country: France
Club team: Barcelona
Age: 32 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
11. Xavier
Country: Spain
Club team: Barcelona
Age: 30 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
12. Ronaldinho
Country: Brazil
Club team: AC Milan
Age: 30 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
13. Steven Gerrard
Country: England
Club team: Liverpool
Age: 29 years old
Salary: $9.81 million
14. Daniel Alves
Country: Brazil
Club team: Barcelona
Age: 26 years old
Salary: $9.21 million
15. Michael Ballack
Country: Germany
Club team: Chelsea
Age: 33 years old
Salary: $8.45 million
16. Raoul
Country: Spain
Club team: Real Madrid
Age: 32 years old
Salary: $8.45 million
17. Rio Ferdinand
Country: England
Club team: Manchester United
Age: 31 years old
Salary: $8.45 million
18. Kolo Touré
Country: Ivory Coast
Club team: Manchester City
Age: 29 years old
Salary: $8.45 million
19. Wayne Rooney
Country: England
Club team: Manchester United
Age: 24 years old
Salary: $7.85 million
20. Robinho
Country: Brazil
Club team: Manchester City
Age: 26 years old
Salary: $7.85 million
*Football player salary information provided by Portuguese marketing agency Futebol Finance
