England's David Beckham is the highest earning football (soccer) player in the world, according to a study published Tuesday by France Football magazine.
Including salary, commercial endorsements and image rights, the Real Madrid midfielder earns about $37 million per year. His yearly wage as a player of $8.25 million is the same as Real teammates Ronaldo of Brazil and Zinedine Zidane of France. They are also second and third, respectively on the overall list. Ronaldo earns about $25 million and Zidane nearly $17 million.
Of the richest players in the world, Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has the highest wage of almost $10 million. He is sixth overall. The study says soccer's richest coach is Chelsea's Jose Mourinho with earnings of close to $10 million.
That would go up if Chelsea wins the Euro Champions League. Eight of the top 20 earners on the list play in the English Premier League.
Some information for report provided by AP and Reuters.