Football is probably the most popular sport in the world. 200+ countries are credited under FIFA hence making the game by far the most played sport in the world. Almost everyone would have come across a football being kicked at least once since their childhood.
With popularity comes sponsors and money hence making football the richest sport in the world as well. It is quite obvious that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be at the top but there are a lot of surprise entrants in this list of the richest football players in the world. One of the biggest surprise names in this list is none other than Dave Whelan.
Also in this list would be a few players who became legendary managers after their playing career. Hence without any further ado, let’s look at the top 50 richest football players in the world:
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | Income (2024-25) |
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Forward | Al Nassr | $205.4 million |
| 2 | Karim Benzema | Forward | Al-Ittihad | $102.7 million |
| 2 | Neymar | Forward | Al Hilal | $102.7 million |
| 4 | Riyad Mahrez | Forward | Al-Ahli | $53.6 million |
| 5 | Sadio Mane | Forward | Al Nassr | $41.1 million |
| 6 | Kalidou Koulibaly | Defender | Al Hilal | $35.6 million |
| 7 | Robert Lewandowski | Forward | Barcelona | $34.2 million |
| 8 | Erling Haaland | Forward | Manchester City | $33.2 million |
| 9 | Kylian Mbappe | Forward | Real Madrid | $32.1 million |
| 10 | Ivan Toney | Forward | Al-Ahli | $26.2 million |
| 11 | Sergei Milinkovic-Savic | Forward | Al Hilal | $25.7 million |
| 11 | Alexsandar Mitrovic | Forward | Al Hilal | $25.7 million |
| 11 | N’golo Kante | Midfielder | Al-Ittihad | $25.7 million |
| 11 | Harry Kane | Forward | Bayern Munich | $25.7 million |
| 15 | Kevin De Bruyne | Forward | Manchester City | $25.3 million |
| 16 | Aymeric Laporte | Defender | Al Nassr | $25.2 million |
| 17 | Marcelo Brozovic | Midfielder | Al Nassr | $24.9 million |
| 18 | David Alaba | Defender | Real Madrid | $23.1 million |
| 19 | Dusan Vlahovic | Forward | Juventus | $22.8 million |
| 20 | Casemiro | Midfielder | Manchester United | $22.1 million |
| 20 | Mohamed Salah | Forward | Liverpool | $22.1 million |
| 22 | Manuel Neuer | Goalkeeper | Bayern Munich | $21.6 million |
| 23 | Jan Oblak | Goalkeeper | Atletico Madrid | $21.4 million |
| 23 | Vinicius Junior | Forward | Real Madrid | $21.4 million |
| 23 | Jude Bellingham | Forward | Real Madrid | $21.4 million |
