Messi second highest paid player in the world

French football weekly paper France Football has drawn up a list of the highest earners in football in the year 2008, taking into account salary, bonuses, advertising and other benefits.

AC Milan midfielder David Beckham returns to the top of the list, with former Barcelona player Ronaldinho, who had been leading the list over the two previous years, dropping to third place.

Two Barcelona players make it into the top five: Lionel Messi (21) is second with 28,6 million euro (including the 8,5 million euro gross year salary at Barcelona), which is 5,6 million euro more than last year, and Thierry Henry (31) is fifth with 17 million euro (including the 8 million euro gross year salary at Barcelona).


This is the top 20 of highest earners:

1. David Beckham (AC Milan) 32,4 million
2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 28,6 million
3. Ronaldinho (AC Milan) 19,6 million
4. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) 18,3 million
5. Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona) 17 million
6. Kaká (AC Milan) 15,1 million
7. Zlatan Ibraimovic (Inter Milan) 14 million
8. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 13,5 million
9. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 13 million
10. John Terry (Chelsea) 11,7 million
11. Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid) 11,5 million
12. Robinho (Manchester City) 11,4 million
13. Michael Ballack (Chelsea) 11,3 million
14. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 11,3 million
15. Didier Drogba (Chelsea) 10,7 million
16. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 10,5 million
17. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus) 10,4 million
18. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) 10,2 million
19. Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal) 10 million
20. Francesco Totti (AS Roma) 9,9 million

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Messi third best paid football player in the world