Kaka tops list of highest paid players

Portuguese Futebol Finance has listed what it believes are the top 50 highest paid footballers.

It lists Kaka as number one on the list, followed by Ronaldinho and Frank Lampard. Italian AC Milan's Kaka is at EUR 750,000, Spanish Barcelona's Ronaldinho for EUR 710,000 and English Chelsea's Frank Lampard for EUR 680,000.

Chelsea has three of the top six, including Lampard, John Terry and Andriy Shevchenko.

Among the top 50, 20 play in the English Premier League, the highest of any league. Spanish Real Madrid and Barcelona each have six players on the list. Italian Inter Milan, Roma and Juventus have three apiece.

MLS L.A. Galaxy's David Beckham is the only player listed not plying his trade in Europe.

The list does not take account of footballers’ sponsorship and advertising contracts, which constitute the lion’s share of most famous football stars. For example, Ronaldinho earned EUR 24 million last year, of which 15 million were made with the help of sponsorship and advertising.

(in EUR)
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, Real Madrid — 600,000
14. Michael Owen, Newcastle Utd — 560,000
15. Sol Campbell, Portsmouth — 550,000
16. Raul Gonzalez, Real Madrid — 535,000
17. Ruud Van Nistelrooy, 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, Real Madrid — 490,000
22. Luca Toni, Bayern Munich — 460,000
23. Robinho, Real Madrid — 460,000
24. Francesco Totti, AS Roma — 455,000
25. Arjen Robben, 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
34. Sergio Aguero, Atletico Madrid — 417,000
35. Oliver Kahn, Bayern Munich — 412,000
36. Edwin Vandersar, Manchester Utd — 405,000
37. Fernando Morientes, Valencia — 405,000
38. Alessandro Del Piero, Juventus FC — 400,000
39. Harry Kewell, Liverpool FC — 400,000
40. Djibril Cisse, Olympique Marseille — 400,000
41. Joe Cole, Chelsea FC — 390,000
42. Pedro Pauleta, Paris SG — 384,000
43. Juninho Pernanbucano, Olympique Lyon — 380,000
44. David Beckham, LA Galaxy — 375,000
45. David Trezeguet, Juventus — FC 375,000
46. Sidney Govou, Olympique Lyon — 375,000
47. Deco, FC Barcelona — 375,000
48. Gianluca Zambrotta, FC Barcelona — 375,000
49. Petr Cech, Chelsea FC — 360,000
50. Antonio Cassano, Sampdoria — 350,000

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.