We all know that footballers around the world earn lots of money but just how much do they earn?
We take a look at some of the top earners and dig into who they are playing for and why they earn so much money.
Number 1 – Cristiano Ronaldo $82 million
Cristiano, in my opinion, although he earns the most is the second best player in the world. He currently plays for Real Madrid. Previous clubs include Manchester United and Sporting CP, He has played well over 100 games for his country Portugal.
Number 2 – Lionel Messi $77 million
For me Lionel is the best player in the world and he currently plays for Barcelona where is also started his professional career. A rarity these days! He has played more than 100 times for his country Argentina.
Number 3 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic $37 million
Zlatan currently plays for Manchester United. Previous clubs include Paris St-Germain, Barcelona, Ajax, Inter Milan and Juventus.
Number 4 – Neymar Junior $36 million
Neymar currently plays along side Lionel Messi at Barcelona. He also played for Santos previously and has played over 70 games for his country Brazil.
Number 5 – Gareth Bale $34 million
Gareth moved from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013 having also played at Southampton. He has played for Wales more than 60 times.
Number 6 – Wayne Rooney $24 million
Wayne currently plays for Manchester United. Prior to that he played for Everton. Wayne has played over 100 times for England.
Number 7 – Sergio Aguero $24 million
Sergio moved to Manchester City from Atlectico Madrid in 2011. He also played for Independiente and has played more than 80 times for his country Argentina.
Number 8 – Luis Suarez $23 million
Luis moved from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2014. He also played for Ajax and has played more than 90 times for his country Uruguay.
Number 9 – Eden Hazard $22 million
Eden is currently a Chelsea player. He previously played for Lille in France.
Number 10 – Cesc Fabregas $21 million
Cesc is currently playing for Chelsea and is earning a cool $21 million per year. Previous clubs include Arsenal and Barcelona. He is Spanish and has played for Spain more than 100 times.
If you didn’t spot the connections all of these players either play in the English Premier league or the Spanish La Liga. These 2 leagues are probably the strongest 2 leagues in the world at the moment hence the demand for the big players.
Obviously this list will constantly change due to people’s wages increasing either from a transfer to a new club or their current club offering a better deal to keep their player happy.