List of ESPN Top Salaries by Country in 2011
Here is a list of the highest paid athletes from each country of the world in 2011, according to ESPN The Magazine, sorted by salary.
This is the complete list of 182 countries that were analyzed. 114 out of the 182 are soccer players. See a discussion and further analysis of this list. This list is also available sorted by per capita GDP and in alphabetical order. The USA and Philippines produced the highest paid athletes, with the lowest paid being sprinter Michael Junior Jackson from the Polynesian island of Niue.
| Rank | Country | Best-Paid Athlete | Annual Salary | Sport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | Alex Rodriguez | 32,000,000 | baseball |
| 2 | Philippines | Manny Pacquiao | 32,000,000 | boxing |
| 3 | Finland | Kimi Raikkonen | 26,333,333 | auto racing |
| 4 | Spain | Fernando Alonso | 22,736,842 | auto racing |
| 5 | Venezuela | Johan Santana | 21,644,707 | baseball |
| 6 | Italy | Valentino Rossi | 20,800,000 | motorcycle racing |
| 7 | Portugal | Cristiano Ronaldo | 19,500,000 | soccer |
| 8 | Puerto Rico | Carlos Beltran | 19,325,436 | baseball |
| 9 | Argentina | Carlos Tevez | 19,000,000 | soccer |
| 10 | Panama | Carlos Lee | 19,000,000 | baseball |
| 11 | Dominican Republic | Alfonso Soriano | 19,000,000 | baseball |
| 12 | U.S. Virgin Islands | Tim Duncan | 18,700,000 | basketball |
| 13 | England | Lewis Hamilton | 18,473,684 | auto racing |
| 14 | Ivory Coast | Yaya Toure | 18,200,000 | soccer |
| 15 | Canada | Jason Bay | 18,125,000 | baseball |
| 16 | Japan | Ichiro Suzuki | 18,000,000 | baseball |
| 17 | Russia | Andrei Kirilenko | 17,822,187 | basketball |
| 18 | China | Yao Ming | 17,700,000 | basketball |
| 19 | Germany | Dirk Nowitzki | 17,278,618 | basketball |
| 20 | Brazil | Felipe Massa | 17,052,632 | auto racing |
| 21 | Serbia | Peja Stojakovic | 15,602,138 | basketball |
| 22 | France | Franck Ribery | 14,100,000 | soccer |
| 23 | Sweden | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 12,700,000 | soccer |
| 24 | Haiti | Samuel Dalembert | 12,200,000 | basketball |
| 25 | Togo | Emmanuel Adebayor | 11,900,000 | soccer |
| 26 | Sudan | Luol Deng | 11,355,850 | basketball |
| 27 | Australia | Andrew Bogut | 11,050,000 | basketball |
| 28 | Mexico | Jorge De La Rosa | 10,000,000 | baseball |
| 29 | Netherlands | Nigel De Jong | 10,500,000 | soccer |
| 30 | Poland | Robert Kubica | 10,657,895 | auto racing |
| 31 | New Zealand | Russell Coutts | 10,000,000 | yachting |
| 32 | Türkiye | Hedo Turkoglu | 9,800,000 | basketball |
| 33 | Chile | Mark Gonzalez | 9,324,958 | soccer |
| 34 | Latvia | Andris Biedrins | 9,000,000 | basketball |
| 35 | Mali | Frederic Kanoute | 8,600,000 | soccer |
| 36 | Bosnia | Edin Dzeko | 8,470,000 | soccer |
| 37 | Cameroon | Samuel Eto'o | 8,000,000 | soccer |
| 38 | Ukraine | Vitali Klitschko | 6-8M | boxing |
| 39 | Slovakia | Marian Hossa | 7,900,000 | hockey |
| 40 | Switzerland | Roger Federer | 7,698,289 | tennis |
| 41 | Paraguay | Roque Santa Cruz | 7,668,947 | soccer |
| 42 | Czechia | Petr Cech | 7,400,000 | soccer |
| 43 | Uruguay | Diego Forlan | 7,169,746 | soccer |
| 44 | Israel | Yossi Benayoun | 6,859,267 | soccer |
| 45 | Ireland | John O'shea | 6,800,000 | soccer |
| 46 | Bulgaria | Dimitar Berbatov | 6,700,000 | soccer |
| 47 | Senegal | DeSagana Diop | 6,478,600 | basketball |
| 48 | Austria | Thomas Vanek | 6,400,000 | hockey |
| 49 | Ecuador | Antonio Valencia | 6,361,983 | soccer |
| 50 | Wales | Ryan Giggs | 6,300,000 | soccer |
| 51 | Montenegro | Mirko Vucinic | 6,020,000 | soccer |
| 52 | Slovenia | Anze Kopitar | 6,000,000 | hockey |
| 53 | Nigeria | John Mikel Obi | 5,800,000 | soccer |
| 54 | Honduras | David Suazo | 5,716,476 | soccer |
| 55 | Ghana | Michael Essien | 5,500,000 | soccer |
| 56 | Peru | Claudio Pizarro | 5,448,894 | soccer |
| 57 | South Africa | Ernie Els | 5,347,012 | golf |
| 58 | Belgium | Vincent Kompany | 5,340,000 | soccer |
| 59 | Guadeloupe | Mickael Pietrus | 5,300,000 | basketball |
| 60 | Northern Ireland | Graeme McDowell | 5,176,586 | golf |
| 61 | Colombia | Juan Pablo Montoya | 5,088,410 | auto racing |
| 62 | Romania | Cristian Chivu | 5,013,000 | soccer |
| 63 | Scotland | Darren Fletcher | 5,000,000 | soccer |
| 64 | Lithuania | Linas Kleiza | 4,995,000 | basketball |
| 65 | Croatia | Luka Modric | 4,900,000 | soccer |
| 66 | Tanzania | Hasheem Thabeet | 4,793,280 | basketball |
| 67 | South Korea | Ji-Sung Park | 4,700,000 | soccer |
| 68 | Norway | John Carew | 4,500,000 | soccer |
| 69 | Denmark | Daniel Agger | 4,500,000 | soccer |
| 70 | Greece | Theodoros Papaloukas | 4,400,000 | basketball |
| 71 | Cuba | Yuniesky Betancourt | 4,300,000 | baseball |
| 72 | Georgia | Zaza Pachulia | 4,251,250 | basketball |
| 73 | Macedonia | Goran Pandev | 4,250,000 | soccer |
| 74 | Morocco | Marouane Chamakh | 4,247,000 | soccer |
| 75 | Martinique | Ronny Turiaf | 4,000,000 | basketball |
| 76 | Suriname | Clarence Seedorf | 4,000,000 | soccer |
| 77 | Kazakhstan | Nik Antropov | 3,750,000 | hockey |
| 78 | French Guiana | Florent Malouda | 3,441,823 | soccer |
| 79 | Zimbabwe | Benjani Mwaruwari | 3,405,584 | soccer |
| 80 | Belarus | Alexander Hleb | 3,300,000 | soccer |
| 81 | Curaþao | Jair Jurrjens | 3,250,000 | baseball |
| 82 | Republic of the Congo | Christopher Samba | 3,000,000 | soccer |
| 83 | Oman | Ali Al Habsi | 3,000,000 | soccer |
| 84 | Sierra Leone | Madieu Williams | 2,974,000 | American football |
| 85 | New Caledonia | Frederic Piquionne | 2,972,339 | soccer |
| 86 | Hungary | Zoltan Gera | 2,970,000 | soccer |
| 87 | American Samoa | Domata Peko | 2,950,000 | American football |
| 88 | Benin | Stephane Sessegnon | 2,800,000 | soccer |
| 89 | Dem. Rep. of the Congo | Herita Ilunga | 2,730,000 | soccer |
| 90 | Algeria | Nadir Belhadj | 2,779,000 | soccer |
| 91 | Taiwan | Hong-Chih Kuo | 2,725,000 | baseball |
| 92 | Luxembourg | Andy Schleck | 2,700,000 | road bicycle racing |
| 93 | Jamaica | Ricardo Gardner | 2,613,074 | soccer |
| 94 | Egypt | Mohammed Zidan and Mohamed Abu Treika , | 2,580,000 | soccer |
| 95 | Iceland | Eidur Gudjohnsen | 2,538,000 | soccer |
| 96 | Albania | Lorik Cana | 2,500,000 | soccer |
| 97 | Tonga | Chris Kemoeatu | 2,369,000 | American football |
| 98 | Seychelles | Michael Mancienne | 2,100,000 | soccer |
| 99 | Estonia | Ragnar Klavan | 2,006,000 | soccer |
| 100 | Nicaragua | Vicente Padilla | 2,000,000 | baseball |
| 101 | India | Ms Dhoni | 1,800,000 | cricket |
| 102 | Uganda | Mathias Kiwanuka | 1,776,000 | American football |
| 103 | Costa Rica | Bryan Ruiz | 1,720,828 | soccer |
| 104 | Faroe Islands | Christian Holst | 1,630,000 | soccer |
| 105 | Iran | Hamed Haddadi | 1,600,000 | basketball |
| 106 | Cyprus | Constandinos Charalambides | 1,589,000 | soccer |
| 107 | Sri Lanka | Mahela Jayawardene | 1,500,000 | cricket |
| 108 | Moldova | Alexandru Epureanu | 1,433,000 | soccer |
| 109 | Trinidad And Tobago | Anthony Herrera | 1,425,000 | American football |
| 110 | Thailand | Thongchai Jaidee | 1,400,000 | golf |
| 111 | Fiji | Vijay Singh | 1,334,262 | golf |
| 112 | Kenya | McDonald Mariga | 1,300,000 | soccer |
| 113 | Azerbaijan | Aleksandr Samedov | 1,287,000 | soccer |
| 114 | Saudi Arabia | Mohammed Noor | 1,200,000 | soccer |
| 115 | Malta | Michael Mifsud | 1,142,000 | soccer |
| 116 | Libya | Tariq El Taib | 1,130,000 | soccer |
| 117 | Burkina Faso | Charles Kabore | 1,118,000 | soccer |
| 118 | Lebanon | Youssef Mohamad | 1,074,839 | soccer |
| 119 | Namibia | Collin Benjamin | 1,000,000 | soccer |
| 120 | Liechtenstein | Martin Stocklasa | 978,800 | soccer |
| 121 | Greenland | Jesper Gronkjaer | 923,440 | soccer |
| 122 | Iraq | Nashat Akram | 900,000 | soccer |
| 123 | Bolivia | Marcelo Moreno | 883,449 | soccer |
| 124 | Angola | Manucho | 865,579 | soccer |
| 125 | Tunisia | Karim Haggui | 820,000 | soccer |
| 126 | Guinea | Ibrahima Yattara | 717,000 | soccer |
| 127 | Gabon | Daniel Cousin | 645,000 | soccer |
| 128 | North Korea | An Yong-Hak & Jong Tae-Se | 619,107 | soccer |
| 129 | Liberia | Sekou Oliseh | 573,000 | soccer |
| 130 | Guinea-Bissau | Almami Moreira | 573,000 | soccer |
| 131 | Malawi | Tamika Mkandawire | 571,000 | soccer |
| 132 | Brunei Darussalam | Craig Adams | 550,000 | hockey |
| 133 | Andorra | Ildefons Lima | 531,822 | soccer |
| 134 | Mozambique | Mate Simao Junior | 516,000 | soccer |
| 135 | Singapore | Mardan Mamat | 500,609 | golf |
| 136 | Samoa | David Tua | 500,000 | boxing |
| 137 | Bermuda | Reggie Lambe | 480,000 | soccer |
| 138 | Equatorial Guinea | Rodolfo Bodipo | 430,000 | soccer |
| 139 | Bangladesh | Shakib Al Hasan | 425,000 | cricket |
| 140 | Syria | Sanharib Malki | 400,000 | soccer |
| 141 | Kuwait | Bader Al-Mutwa | 400,000 | soccer |
| 142 | Mongolia | Hakuho | 400,000 | sumo |
| 143 | Qatar | Sebastian Soria Quintana | 391,000 | soccer |
| 144 | Armenia | Henrikh Mkhitaryan | 360,000 | soccer |
| 145 | UAE | Ismail Matar | 360,000 | soccer |
| 146 | Botswana | Mogogi Gabonamong | 354,000 | soccer |
| 147 | Mauritania | Pascal Gourville | 353,000 | soccer |
| 148 | Somalia | Abdisalam Ibrahim | 340,000 | soccer |
| 149 | Eritrea | Zersenay Tadese | 340,000 | track and field |
| 150 | Ethiopia | Tilahun Regassa | 318,250 | track and field |
| 151 | Zambia | Chris Katongo | 315,300 | soccer |
| 152 | Gambia | Ousman Jallow | 314,000 | soccer |
| 153 | Burundi | Saidi Ntibazonkiza | 315,000 | soccer |
| 154 | Mauritius | Diallo Guidileye | 313,000 | soccer |
| 155 | Guatemala | Carlos Ruiz | 306,670 | soccer |
| 156 | Cape Verde | Cafu | 287,000 | soccer |
| 157 | Papua New Guinea | Nev Costigan | 216,667 | rugby league |
| 158 | Swaziland | Tony Tsabedze | 212,000 | soccer |
| 159 | Central African Republic | Eloge Enza Yanissi | 206,000 | soccer |
| 160 | Cook Islands | Stan Wright | 204,000 | rugby union |
| 161 | Bahrain | Abdullah Omar Ismail | 202,086 | soccer |
| 162 | El Salvador | Arturo Alvarez | 201,922 | soccer |
| 163 | Niger | Alhassane Issoufou | 200,000 | soccer |
| 164 | San Marino | Aldo Simoncini | 172,000 | soccer |
| 165 | Vietnam | Lee Nguyen | 180000 | soccer |
| 166 | Indonesia | Bambang Pamungkas | 160,000 | soccer |
| 167 | Kyrgyzstan | Mirlan Murzaev | 150,000 | soccer |
| 168 | Jordan | Odai Al-Saify | 145,000 | soccer |
| 169 | Tajikistan | Farkhod Vasiev | 145,000 | soccer |
| 170 | Comoros | Kassim Abdallah | 120,000 | soccer |
| 171 | Pakistan | Shahid Afridi | 136,000 | cricket |
| 172 | Uzbekistan | Maksim Shatskikh | 120,000 | soccer |
| 173 | Malaysia | Lee Chong Wei | 106,000 | badminton |
| 174 | Madagascar | Anicet Andrianantenaina | 86,000 | soccer |
| 175 | Palestine | Fadi Lafi | 65,000 | soccer |
| 176 | Rwanda | Olivier Karekezi | 52,000 | soccer |
| 177 | Djibouti | Ismail Ahmed Kadar Hassan | 51,500 | soccer |
| 178 | Lesotho | Lehlohonolo Seema | 34,300 | soccer |
| 179 | Chad | Misdongarde Betoligar | 21,500 | soccer |
| 180 | Tahiti | Fabrice Santoro | 19,500 | tennis |
| 181 | Nepal | Santosh Sahukhala | 8,430 | soccer |
| 182 | Niue | Michael Junior Jackson | 5,000 | track and field |
Notes
- This list is only based on the highest paid athlete from each country based on the official base salary or earnings from the most recently completed season or calendar year, but does not include endorsements, appearance fees, sponsorship money and other sources of extra income.
- Only countries are listed from which an official salary data was available. No figures were available from Afghanistan, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Salaries not available for Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Bonaire, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Dominica, East Timor, Grenada, Mauritus, Micronesia, Monaco, Monserrat, Myanmar, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grendadines, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos or Yemen.
Source
- This data was published in ESPN The Magazine (May 2, 2011).
Related Pages
- This list sorted by per capita GDP and in alphabetical order.
- More ESPN lists
- other sporting lists, including the Forbes list of the World's Best Paid Athletes
- More about the World of Sport
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