Barcelona sets new wage record: The Catalan giants have become the first team across all sports to cross £10m in wages.
Barcelona have become the first team in the history of sports to record an average first-team pay of £10m in wages. A survey by Sporting Intelligence has recorded this extraordinary number.
The club boasts of few of the biggest names in the footballing world, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Arturo Vidal and Philippe Coutinho.
Barcelona’s arch-rivals, Real Madrid are second in the list, while Juventus are the third biggest football club on the list, at 9th position.
In England, Manchester United have the highest first-team pay of all the clubs, while neighbours Manchester City come close at second.
Here are the full details:
Barcelona sets new wage record:
The Catalan side, which is also the current champions of the Spanish league, will pay its 23-member squad an average of £10.45m without bonuses, which is the highest among all the sports teams in the world.
Much of the average wage is due to the extraordinary wages of Lionel Messi at the club. The Argentine star earns £50m/a/year in wages at Barcelona. However, the acquisitions of Coutinho, Arthur, Malcolm and Arturo Vidal this year, including the new contracts for Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Sergio Busquets and Samuel Umtiti have had a significant impact on the wage bill of the club.
Barca’s arch-rivals, Real Madrid record £8.1m/a/year in wages. The NBA clubs occupy next six spots on the table, with Juventus taking on the 9th spot. The Italian giants were 32nd in the previous survey, but their recent transfer business, which included the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, has led to a massive jump on the table.
Manchester United are ranked 10th with a wage bill of £6.53m.
The survey also reports that Premier League remains the richest league in the world, with the stars earning an average of £2.99m a year. La Liga is ranked second, but are a massive 36% behind the English top flight.
