Football’s top earners 2020/21: Iniesta remains FIFTH on the list

Robin Bairner

Updated: 23 May 2023 08:39 CDT
4 min read

Football’s top earners 2020/21: Iniesta remains FIFTH on the list — © ProShots

Former Barcelona player Andres Iniesta remains fifth on the list of highest-paid football players, according to a study published by France Football on Tuesday.

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At his peak around a decade ago, the midfielder was a central pillar of the Barcelona and Spain teams that dominated domestic and international football in the early part of the 2010s.

Indeed, Iniesta even has the distinction of having scored in a World Cup final, netting the winner as Spain defeated Germany 1-0 in the 2010 showpiece.

He has, however, dropped off the footballing radar in recent years since departing Barcelona for Vissel Kobe in 2018.

Iniesta, who will turn 37 on 11 May, still earns €34 million per year, according to the figures, which include wages, bonuses and sponsorship money.

Football’s biggest earners

	PLAYER	EARNINGS (€m)
1	Lionel Messi	125
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	118
3	Neymar	98
4	Gareth Bale	37
5	Andres Iniesta	34
6	Eden Hazard	32
=	Raheem Sterling	32
=	Kylian Mbappe	32
9	Robert Lewandowski	30
10	Antoine Griezmann	28
=	Kevin De Bruyne	28
12	Paul Pogba	26
13	Oscar	25
=	Thomas Muller	25
15	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	24.5
16	David de Gea	24
=	Manuel Neuer	24
18	Toni Kroos	23.5
19	Gerard Pique	21
20	Mohamed Salah	20

Source: France Football. Includes wages, bonuses and sponsorship deals

Naturally, the top three spots are taken by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar. Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, presently on loan at Tottenham, occupies fourth place.

Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling is the highest grossing Premier League player (when Bale’s loan is overlooked), earning €32m for the season in progress.

Iniesta’s earnings put him in a bracket ahead of many of the game’s present-day superstars, including PSG’s Kylian Mbappe.

Indeed, the veteran’s wages top any player presently on Barcelona’s books, with Antoine Girezmann on €28m and Gerard Pique, who earns €21m, the only other players on the Camp Nou books who presently earn sufficiently to break into the Top 20.

Perhaps the other surprising name on this list, as well as Iniesta, is Oscar, who turned out for Chelsea between 2012 and 2017 but departed them for the riches of the Chinese Super League. The Brazil international player continues to be handsomely renumerated for that decision, with an estimated earnings of €25m for the 2020/21 campaign.