Top 5 Highest Paid Football Players In The World

Lately though, there’s been a huge influx of Chinese money that has changed the hierarchy of football wages. While there was a time where the best player in the world had the biggest wage, this is no longer the case. The Chinese Super League is buying moderate and/or old football players to boost their own league, with some pretty ridiculous wages to convince them to make the trip to China.
That said – top clubs in Europe aren’t paying too bad either. While there’s a lot of speculation regarding wages and the numbers can vary greatly, let’s try to take a look at the top 15 best paid football players in the world, based on the most recent (and trustworthy) numbers. Oh – and these are weekly wages, no endorsements or marketing deals included. Just in case you were wondering because of all the zeroes.

5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) – $500,000

And this is only his wage, this isn’t counting his numerous endorsement deals. If we’d add that number, his wage would probably be a lot higher. Because even CR7 can never have enough money, right?

4. Oscar (Shanghai SIPG) – $514,000

It was assumed for a pretty long time that Oscar was the best paid player in the world. He was also one of the first to move to the CSL. While his weekly wage of nearly $514,000 isn’t that bad, he doesn’t even get a top 3 spot on this list.

3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – $667,000

Honestly, if Messi is number 3 on this list, there’s very few players that are actually worth their wages after this

2. Carlos Tevez (Shanghai Shenhua) – $790,000

Seems pretty ridiculous that this guy isn’t the top earner, right? If it makes you feel any better, rumor has it that Tevez isn’t overly happy with his new Chinese overlords and regrets leaving his earlier team to go play in China.

1. Ezequiel Lavezzi (Hebei China Fortune) – $1,025,000

Yes, that’s slightly more than a million bucks every week. Now calculate how long it would take you to earn this at your current job and hate your life.