Not really much to discuss, but for those that are interested, here's the list of what the best paid players make by year as written by the magazine France Football: LINK (Dutch site) Reading the article it seems these numbers aren't 100% accurate but pretty close to reality (or else they wouldn't have posted it on their site) and it wasn't made clear either if these numbers include what the players make with their sponsors and whatnot...it probably does, because I'm pretty sure the 'big ones' at Madrid all have the same salary. Meh, do with this list what you will. # Player - Club - Year Salary (in euros) 1. David Beckham Manchester United 15.000.000 2. Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid 14.000.000 3. Ronaldo Real Madrid 11.700.000 4. Rio Ferdinand Manchester United 9.620.000 5. Alessandro Del Piero Juventus 9.550.000 6. Hidetoshi Nakata Parma 9.360.000 7. Raúl Real Madrid 9.300.000 8. Christian Vieri Internazionale 9.280.000 9. Michael Owen Liverpool 8.900.000 10. Roy Keane Manchester United 8.650.000 11. Luis Figo Real Madrid 8.600.000 12. Gabriel Batistuta Internazionale 8.600.000 13. Sol Campbell Arsenal 8.100.000 14. Oliver Kahn Bayern München 7.650.000 15. Alvaro Recoba Internazionale 7.600.000 16. Francesco Totti AS Roma 7.300.000 17. Rivaldo AC MIlan 7.200.000 18. Thierry Henry Arsenal 6.200.000 19. Fabio Cannavaro Internazionale 6.080.000 20. Paolo Maldini AC Milan 6.000.000 ¿Nakata at 6? Henry, van Nistelrooij and Makaay (last 2 not in the top 20) should renegotiate their contracts.
Let's not forget people that these aren't the salaries given by their respective clubs. A hell of a lot of these figures is made up of sponsorship and promotional money. Especially Beckham's figure. Nakata I can only explain through the fact that he's Japan's most famous footballer by far and as such will receive more than his fair share of sponsorship money from that area of the world.
A rather undecorated 24 year old CENTERBACK with average qualities is the fourth best paid player in the world game!! Welcome to the crazy world of football. I wonder what tricks Rio's agent pulled off when negotiating that contract.
Nakata has been up there for many years. I am more surprise with Rio Ferdinand. He must have a huge cut of the transfer fees he received. RNV should move up after this year.... I thought Nike paid their spokesmen well. Only two Nike guys are at the top 10. Three if Vieri is a Nike guy. I don't know about Rio Ferdinand.... three out of top five are adidas men.
Nope, Vieri is Diadora. Rio's nike, though. He's in that cage commercial. BTW, anyone who hasn't seen the nike cage commercial in its entirety definitely should check it out. Look for it on Kazaa.
Just in case anyone cares and don't ask me why this type of stuff matters to me i couldn't tell you but the sponsers for all 20 players are as follows Adidas-David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Raúl, Oliver Kahn Nike-Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Hidetoshi Nakata, Luis Figo, Francesco Totti, Thierry Henry, Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini Diadora-Christian Vieri, Roy Keane,Alvaro Recoba Reebok- Gabriel Batistuta Mizuno- Rivaldo Umbro-Michael Owen
Re: Re: Best paid players - list Its not that big of a deal. I know most of this stuff too, but its mainly picked up from the commercials surrounding the WC. The Adidas Footballitis and Nike Cage Commercials basically showed off their entire "teams" BTW, how long has Nike been making soccer equipment?
I have a pair of Nike indoor soccer shoes back in 1991 or 1992. At World Cup level, I did not recall any Nike stuffs at 1990 WC. some players were wearing Nike shoes at WC 1994, but no shirts, except Campos' keeper outfit.