Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo heading the list of the highest earners of 2019 by a considerable way after the top 10 were revealed cannot come as a huge shock since the two dominated the list over the last decade.
However, the gulf between salaries is shocking as well as some startling omissions this year while there is only one inclusion from the Premier League.
According to France Football magazine, that accolade goes to Raheem Sterling of Manchester City, who made £30.7m in 2019.
But that leaves him eighth in the list, with Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski (£27m) and PSG’s Kylian Mbappe (£25m) behind him.
Barcelona and Real Madrid, rivals off and on the pitch, made some stellar signings in the summer.
Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard made the move to both clubs and the two earn the same as well, reaping in a cool £35.3m.
That makes them the fourth-tied highest earners on the list, while Andres Iniesta is a slightly surprising entry at seventh.
He made £31.6m last year at Vissel Kobe in Japan.
Gareth Bale, Real’s other top earner, also made the same amount as Griezmann and Hazard.
However, the top three are in another stratosphere in terms of money.
Neymar is unsurprisingly in the top three but his £88m salary packet is almost three times the amount the next highest earner.
And it does not slow down either, though it is Messi that prevailed as the most-paid footballer of 2019.
It was not close either, with Ronaldo making nearly £110m in the calendar year.
The Argentine talisman, on the other hand, scooped a nice £122m – almost £12m more than his old rival.
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It means the top three follow the same order as last year, which saw the Barcelona star top the list on just under £110m.
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 years ago