the highest paid player in football

Manchester United star Wayne Rooney called it as he saw it during Super Bowl XLVI, “Trying to watch super bowl final. How do they call this football. Like watching paint dry. Looking forward to adverts and music.”
He has $24 million reasons for his bias. That’s how much the 26-year old British striker earned last year, placing him fourth of the highest-paid (what Americans call) soccer players in the world.  Poor-mouthing the NFL might be seen like biting the hand that feeds him, given that he raked in $17 million in 2011 in salary and bonus from his club in the world at $2.24 billion), which is owned by U.S. billionaire  and his family, who also own the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Rooney can feel pretty secure after signing a contract extension commanding one of the highest salary and bonus structures in the sport, helping United win its record 19th Premier League title (and his fourth), and leading the club in goals. He can also boast selling the best-selling jersey in the league.

10 Highest Earning Players

1 of 21

Getty Images

Soccer attracts more corporate money than any other sport in the world; it's players attract over $250 million a year from sponsors. Of the $256 million the top ten star athletes earned last year, 43% ($111 million) was from endorsements from the likes of Adidas, Nike, Puma, Pepsi, and EA Sports. Figures include salaries, bonuses and endorsements earned during 2011.
could blame Rooney for “looking forward to adverts” during the Super Bowl? Nielsen reports that 51 percent of Super Bowl viewers watch just for commercials, and they are novel to Rooney’s no-commercial-interruptions version of football. Perhaps he was watching in anticipation of the racy H&M spot featuring his England national teammate David Beckham. In it the chiseled 36-year old Beckham stood rotating on a turntable in only his skivvies to debut his signature line of bodywear. The new deal helped contribute to the $37 million in endorsements of the total $46 million the Los Angeles Galaxy star earned, making him the highest-paid soccer player in the world.

The multi-year arrangement with the Swedish retailer makes Becks a partner in the line, versus just a face for it, a shift his business partner Simon Fuller said marks his evolution “from sporting hero to entrepreneur”. It’s a wise move considering that while he modeled for Giorgio Armani, sales of their underwear reportedly doubled. Another sign Brand Beckham is becoming more business savvy? His contract with the Galaxy – he signed a two-year extension in January after winning his first MLS cup in November – includes an option to buy an MLS franchise at a discount, which he said he will do when he hangs up his boots.
In second place on our list is Real Madrid’s top scorer and 2008 world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo who earned $42 million last year in salary, bonus and sponsorships from the likes of Nike and Castrol. With 42.5 million Facebook fans and 8.5 million Twitter followers (enough to fill Real’s Bernabeu stadium 500-plus times over) he is the most socially engaged athlete online, and is leading a new trend in endorsements:  social network deals.
“It’s a given that sponsors are going to look to add digital and social media elements into these athletes’ contracts,” said Doug Shabelman, President of Burns Entertainment in speaking about the influence of soccer stars who play in the world’s most popular sport. “Having a celebrity speak directly and in some cases, more personally to Facebook, Twitter or other followers can help accentuate the above the line campaigns in a completely different and unique way. The more personal and more direct-to-your-consumer these companies can get, the easier it is to see a return on their celebrity investment.”
Shabelman helped negotiate Ronaldo’s current 3-year Clear Shampoo deal which included a Facebook campaign where his fans could choose his next hairstyle.  The 27-year old perfectly coiffed Portuguese winger recently drove additional traffic to the Facebook contest through a tweet in March. His agency didn’t disclose numbers but said the social networking response was overwhelming.
Recently Ronaldo’s social network followers have seen him promote his nowhere-else advertised mobile game Heads Up! developed by RockLive, CRonaldo Freestyle soccer game developed by Biodroid Entertainment and self-branded mobile application developed by Mobile Roadie, all published by Digital Artists Entertaiment. Judging by how active he is on the social networks pitching these, his Nike Mercurial Vapor 8 shoes and the documentary Castrol did of him, it looks like the $21 million he made in 2011 in endorsements was money well spent and well earned.
His La Liga nemesis, Lionel Messi, the current three-time world player of the year, was slower to join the world of social networking but has been equally active pitching Adidas, Pepsi and EA Sports to his 34.4 million Facebook fans. Without the internet the 24-year old Barcelona star’s fan base would still get their fill of him. He has made the highlight reel of nearly every match he’s played this season as he has shattered personal, club, league and international records. Included among them, in March he became the first to score five goals in a Champions League match and broke Barca’s all-time scoring record. While once lagging, his endorsement income finally matches his potential on the pitch. The Argentine pocketed $39 million last year, $19 million from sponsors, to rank third on our list of highest paid players.
To compile our list, we looked through commercial sponsor filings and spoke with talent agencies and soccer experts in the U.S. and Europe. All earnings are in U.S. dollars for salaries, incentives and sponsorship income earned in the 2011 calendar year.