The top 10 highest-paid football players in the world

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 29 Oct 2024 11:43 GMT
• 6 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the top two highest-paid footballers in the world thanks to their lucrative annual salaries, in Saudi Arabia and America respectively.

The former Real Madrid striker Ronaldo is pling his trade in the Saudi Pro League, for Al-Nassr. He earns a wage which dwarfs every other footballer in the world.

The Saudi Arabian top flight has become the new destination for any footballers interested in earning a mouth-watering salary thanks to the vast amount of money they have pumped into the game.

READ MORE: The top 10 highest paid women’s footballers in the world

The arrival of Ronaldo following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar kickstarted their football obsession and the Saudi Pro League has spent huge sums of money to attract some of Europe’s best players.

Neymar is the most expensive player in Saudi Arabian history thanks to his €90 million transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to Al-Hilal in August 2023, with the Brazilian sitting in third place in the list of the best-paid football players in the world, alongside Karim Benzema.

Football players’ salaries have grown exponentially over recent years, with the sport generating a huge level of income, which is distributed amongst the athletes.

READ MORE: What are the most expensive transfers of all time? The 50 highest fees in history

The Premier League has enjoyed a boom since the mid-2010s and the English top flight is now the richest in Europe, in regards to its ability to pay high transfer fees and high wages.

However, the Saudi Pro League is now the richest league in world football and eight of the 10 highest paid footballers now play in Saudi Arabia.

The following figures are from business publication Forbes, who published a list of the 10 highest football salaries in October 2024.

Which footballers earn the most money?

Ronaldo earns a reported €263m per year, which works out at €5m per week. They are the joint-highest earners in world football.

Neymar is third, with both players earning €100m a year following his moves to Saudi Arabia in 2023.

Kylian Mbappe is one of only two non-Saudi Pro League players in the top 10 and he is the fifth best-paid player in the world. The Frenchman earns an annual salary of €80m at Real Madrid.

His former PSG team-mate Messi is second on the list thanks to his wage at Inter Miami and his €50m in sponsorship. The former Barcelona star turned down a deal worth €500m per year in Saudi Arabia to sign for the David Beckham-owned club, according to COPE journalist Helena Condis.

Erling Haaland is sixth on the list below Mbappe, while Vinicius Jr is just below that. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Kevin De Bruyne make up the rest of the list.

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Who is the highest paid women's footballer?

Much like with the men’s game, women’s footballers are paid vastly differently depending on their quality, age, marketability, and several other factors.

Sam Kerr (Chelsea) is the best paid women’s football player, with a reported annual salary of €480,000.

However, most teams in the third tier and some teams in the second tier of women’s football in England are not even professional, meaning players are forced to juggle playing football with a full-time job. Some receive travel expenses, but many are not even paid to play football.

Why are women's footballers paid less than men?

Women’s football is currently a world away from the finances involved in the men’s game. That is largely because of the disparity in popularity and therefore the gap in TV rights deals and merchandise sales.

The 2018 Men’s World Cup had 3.6 billion viewers throughout the tournament - nearly half of the world’s population - while the 2019 Women’s World Cup only had 764 million viewers, five times less than the men’s version.

With more viewers, TV broadcasters pay more for the rights to air matches, which gets distributed amongst teams, who then pay their players more.

Furthermore, the first Women’s World Cup wasn’t held until 1991 - 61 years after the first Men’s World Cup. As a result, the women’s game has been playing catch-up ever since, in regards to both attracting viewers and improving the quality of the sport.

There is less money in women’s football than men’s football, which is a big reason why the wages are far less.