Professional Sports - Sports Salaries - Association Football

Association Football

Chinese Super League

• The average salary of a player in the Chinese Super League was about 10.7 million Chinese yuan (£1 million) for the 2011 season, up from ¥600,000 in the 2010 season. The highest paid player for the 2011 Chinese Super League season was Dario Conca of Guangzhou Evergrande who received an annual salary of ¥66.4 million (US$10.5 million) after income taxation, putting him among the highest paid players in the world.

Russian Premier League

• In the Russian top league, Russian Premier League, the average salary was about 219 million Russian rubles (£4.5 million) for the 2010-2011 Russian Premier League season, up from €1 million in the 2009-2010 Russian Premier League season. The highest paid player for the 2011-2012 Russian Premier League season would be Samuel Eto'o of Anzhi Makhachkala, who at the end of the 2011-12 season will receive a total salary of 900.2 million Russian rubles (35.7 million pound sterling) after income taxation, making Samuel Eto'o the second highest earning athlete in the world and the highest paid footballer in the world followed by Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Bundesliga

• The average salary of a player in the German Bundesliga was about 3.3 million euros (£2.5 million) for the 2010-2011 season, up from €2.5 million in the 2009-2010 Bundesliga season. The highest paid player for the 2010-2011 Bundesliga season was Franck Ribéry of Bayern Munich who received a salary of €6.3 million after income taxation.

Serie A

• In the Italian top league, Serie A, the average salary was about 5 million euros for the 2010-2011 Serie A season, up from €1 million in the 2005-2006 Serie A season. The highest paid player for the 2010-2011 Serie A season was Zlatan Ibrahimović of A.C. Milan who received a salary of €25.9 million after income taxation and which also includes the incomes of Ibrahimović's bonuses and endorsements.

La Liga

• Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona is the world's second highest paid player receiving a salary of £29.6 million (over US$45 million) a year after income taxation and which also includes the incomes of Messi's bonuses and endorsements. In the Spanish La Liga, the average salary for the players of Lionel Messi's club FC Barcelona was 6.5 million euros for the 2010-2011 La Liga season, up from €5.5 million for the 2009-2010 La Liga season.

Premier League

• The average salary of a player in the English Premier League was about 1.2 million pounds in the 2007-2008 Premier League season, up from £676,000 in 2006-2007 Premier League season. Top players such as John Terry and Steven Gerrard can make up to £7 million per year with the players of Premier League club Manchester City F.C. receiving an average salary of £7 million for the 2010-2011 Premier League season, up from £5.5 million in the 2009-2010 Premier League season. Players in lower divisions make significantly less money. In 2006-2007 season the average salary of a player in the Championship (the second tier of the English football pyramid) made £195,750 while the average salary for League One (tier 3) was £67,850 and League Two (tier 4) was £49,600.

Major League Soccer

• David Beckham's salary of US$20 million is the highest in Major League Soccer and about fifty times the average MLS base salary of US$115,000. Beckham's salary is more than double that of the MLS per-team salary cap of US$2.55 million for 2010; however, under MLS' Designated Player Rule, instituted in 2007 for the purpose of attracting stars of Beckham's stature, each team is allowed to sign two players (originally one) for any salary that will count for only US$335,000 each of cap room. Beckham was the first player signed under this rule.