Messi is Barca’s top goalscorer and football’s richest player
According to Football France magazine, here are the top ten paid athletes in 2012:
1. Tiger Woods (€52m)
2. Phil Mickelson (€46m)
3. Kobe Bryant (€39m)
4. LeBron James (€37m)
5. Roger Federer (€35m)
6. Michael Schumacher (€34m)
7. Lionel Messi (€33m)
8. David Beckham (€31.5m)
9. Fernando Alonso (€30m)
10. Cristiano Ronaldo (€29.4m)
Football’s rich list also includes Anzhi’s Samuel Eto’o (€23.3m), Man Utd’s Wayne Rooney (€20.6 million), Man City’s Sergio “Kun” Aguero (€18.8m), Man City’s Yaya Toure (€17.6m), Chelsea’s Fernando Torres(€16.7m), Real Madrid’s Kaka (€15.5m), Bayern Munich’s Philipp Lahm (€14.3m), Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (€14m), Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger (€13.9m), Santos’s Neymar (€13.8 m), Shanghai’s Nicolas Anelka (€13 m), Chelsea’s Frank Lampard (€12.9m), Man City’s David Silva (€12.8 m), Chelsea’s Didier Drogba (€12.6m), Guangzhou’s Dario Conca (€12.5m), Juventus’s Gianluigi Buffon (€11.7m), Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery (€11.6 million).
A player like Beckham should not even be on this list but he earned a whopping €26m in advertising fees. As a brand phenomenon there is no one quite like him. The list shows signs of where the money will be in the future. In another five years, there will be more players on this list from the Russian and Chinese leagues. The figures represent total earnings, not just salaries.
In the manager’s rich list, Jose Mourinho unsurprisingly comes out tops (€14.8 m), followed by Carlo Ancelotti now at PSG (€13.5m), and then Pep Guardiola who has Mourinho’s number if not quite his salary (€9.5m).