The top 10 highest-paid football players in the world

Cameron Smith

• 3 Apr 2025 15:56 CDT
• 5 min read

Analysis

Cristiano Ronaldo's eyewatering salary in Saudi Arabia makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world.

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.

That is why Karim Benzema is also the second-highest-paid player in the world behind Ronaldo, due to his salary with Saudi side Al-Ittihad.

Kylian Mbappe's move to Real Madrid in 2024 made him the third-highest paid player in the world.

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.

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 €194m per year, which works out at €3.73m per week.

Benzema's contract is worth around €100m annually, working out at just shy of €1.9m per week.

Mbappe netted a salary of €77m when he joined Real Madrid, with Lionel Messi behind him at €55m after his move to MLS side Inter Miami in 2023.

Riyad Mahrez, Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane all have similar salaries of around €39-45m, with Vinicius Junior, Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne wrapping up the top 10.

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.