David Beckham Knocks Leo Messi Off Top Earners List
By Stephen Tizzard*
Morocco News Tribune
Barcelona, Spain|Thanks to advertising, David Beckham was again the highest paid player in the world according to figures from ‘France Football’ magazine, in front of Lionel Messi, who had held that position for the last three years.
The advertising revenue of the recent spectacular signing of Paris Saint-Germain have again made Beckham the highest paid player in the world, a position that the Englishman, who turns 38 in May, has held four other times, the first time being ten years ago.
But what David Beckham earns playing football represents just 9% of his total income!
He is an example of unsurpassed longevity and a brand name, which has led him to amass in the last year alone, some 36 million euros compared to the 35 million of Barca’s Leo Messi and the 30 million of Real Madrid’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi was pipped to the first position on the list that he had held continuously since 2010, despite earning two million euros extra.
But David Beckham, who came in second place last year, has added an additional EUR 4.5 million to his bank account, above all in the shape of image rights allowing him to pocket 33 million and adding an additional 1.7 million for his salary and 1.3 million for premiums.
Since ‘France Football’ has published this list, no one has ever reached the figure of 36 million euros in a year – a figure synonymous with the inflation in football when compared with the 15 million euros he earned when topped the list for the first time in 2003.
The Spaniard that earns most is Chelsea’s Fernando Torres, followed closely by David Silva of Manchester City.
But the unique case of David Beckham is that he only earns 9% of his total income from playing football.
On the other hand, Messi has a more balanced income. The Argentine earned 12.5 million euros in salary, half a million more for premiums and 22 million for image rights.
In third place is Ronaldo, who earned 30 million Euros – some 800,000 euros more than last year. The Portuguese star was the highest paid in the Spanish league (13 million Euros) and got the same premiums as Leo Messi (500,000 euros), but the publicity earned him 16.5 million.
The first Spaniard on the list is striker Fernando Torres with 16.3 M Euros, 10.3M in salary, bonuses of 1M and 5M from advertising.
Fellow compatriot David Silva, who hails from the Canary Islands, closely follows him. Silva earned 16.2M Euros last year.
Ex Barca star Zlatan Ibrahimovichas said that David Beckham is playing like a 25-year-old — and shutting up critics as well. Ibrahimovic has been stunned by Beckham’s start at PSG since he arrived on a five-month deal.
37 year old Beckham played 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw against St Etienne at the weekend for his fourth PSG appearance.
Ibrahimovic said: “I think anybody who thought David was past his best when he signed for us is now very quiet. That man on the pitch for us looked 25.”
More Articles by Stephen Tizzard can be found here