As the sport of Football has grown in popularity, it has also started roping in huge amounts of Money. It is now much more of a financial sport than it ever was before. Before, roping in 100K-200K a week was considered to be the biggest of luxuries, now, that’s considered moderate in terms of Salaries. So let’s take a look at the top 10 highest-paid footballers in the world in 2024 and how much are they actually paid.
10. Kylian Mbappe
The new Real Madrid star has actually fallen down on this list compared to last year when he was earning crazy money at Paris Saint-Germain. But at Real Madrid, Florentino Perez has made Kylian Mbappe stand in line like the rest of the players playing for Los Blancos. Mbappe currently earns $666K per week at Madrid which amounts to around $34 Million per year.
9. Robert Lewandowski
The Talismanic Striker earns $710 K per week at Barcelona which translates to almost $37 million. This is even more than Kylian Mbappe! Impressive for the newly turned 36-year-old, no? But these figures are not entirely right. We’ll discuss this later on.
8. Kalidou Koulibaly
The Senegalese Centre-back earned a big money move to Saudi Club Al Hilal and it would be an understatement to say that he is earning big bucks for himself. The 33-year-old rakes in $ 740 K every week amounting to $ 38.5 Million per year.
7. Frenkie de Jong
The Barcelona Midfielder on paper earns roughly $800 K weekly, that is, $41.6 Million per year, making him the highest-paid player in La Liga ahead of the likes of Mbappe and Bellingham. But in reality, this number is quite misleading without proper context. In terms of wages, Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski both earn less than the likes of Mbappe. However, due to FC Barcelona’s financial situation, the club owes them a lot of money in deferred wages. Hence, on paper, it looks as if they are to earn big money per week when in reality it is a sum of their deferred wages.
6. Sadio Mane
The Al-Nassr star earns $ 853 K per week which amounts to upwards of $44.3 Million per year. The Senegalese winger has been putting this money to good use and helping out his community back in his motherland.
5. Riyad Mahrez
The Al-Ahli winger who is best known for his expertly silky smooth touch is the first player on this list who earns upwards of $1 Million in wages, WEEKLY! The Algerian star earns $1.11 Million weekly and $57.72 Million in a year.
4. Lionel Messi
While in reality, Lionel Messi ranks much higher on this list, the reason why he is ranked only 4th is because this list is based only on the wages that Footballers earn in salary. Inter Miami pays Messi a weekly wage of $1.2 Million dollars, which amounts to 62 Million dollars annually. Most of Messi’s income comes from Brand Deals, sponsorships and partnerships along with the stakes that Inter Miami offered to him for signing with them.
3. Neymar Jr
The Brazilian superstar earns upwards of $2.13 Million dollars every week while his annual wages reach around 110.7 million USD. It is actually quite funny that Neymar has been out of the team for most of the time due to injuries and to date has only played 5 matches for the Saudi Club, yet he earns so much.
2. Karim Benzema
The Al-Ittihad spearhead earned his big-money move from Real Madrid to Saudi Arabia one season after winning the Ballon d’Or for having an extraordinary 2022. Now, the 36-year-old earns 2.132 Million Dollars per week amounting to 110.8 Million USD pushing him slightly ahead of Neymar.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
The highest-paid footballer in the world, is without a doubt the Global Superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese Striker rakes in $4.265 Million dollars every week. That is 221.796 Million USD every single year. To put that into perspective. 4.265 Million every week is equal to 609K USD every day, which is equal to $25,388 every hour, which is equal to $423 every minute, which is equal to about 7 USD every single second!
