Best Paid Athletes in Football and in all Sports

Cesc Fabregas | Arsenal's highest paid player in 

history on £110,000-a-week

Lionel Messi | Barcelona star is top earner at £29.6m

David Beckham | LA Galaxy midfielder richer by £27.3m

Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid & Portuguese star at £27m

Kaka | Real Madrid & Brazil player made £16.9m last year

Thierry Henry | Fading forward raked in £16m last year

Ronaldinho | Past his prime, but still made £15.5m

Carlos Tevez | Argentinian pocketed £13.8m

Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Barca striker hit the £13m mark

Frank Lampard | Blues midfielder raked in £12.8m

Samuel Eto'o | Cameroon forward made £12.4m 

Source: France Football Rich List

• Andre Agassi 35 $26.2 million • Lance Armstrong 34 $28 million • David Beckham 30 $32.5 million • Kobe Bryant 27 $28.8 million • Lindsay Davenport 29 $6 million • Oscar De La Hoya 33 $38 million • Jeff Gordon 34 $23.4 million • Matt Hasselbeck 30 $22.8 million • LeBron James 21 $22.9 million • Derek Jeter 31 $25.5 million • Walter Jones 32 $23.2 million • Michael Jordan 43 $33 million • Phil Mickelson 35 $26.8 million • Shaquille O'Neal 34 $33.4 million • Manny Ramirez 35 $24.2 million • Alex Rodriguez 30 $27.5 million • Ronaldo 29 $23 million • Valentino Rossi 27 $28 million • Michael Schumacher 37 $60 million • Maria Sharapova 18 $18.2 million • Annika Sorenstam 35 $7.3 million • Michael Vick 25 $37.5 million • Serena Williams 24 $12.7 million • Venus Williams 25 $6.5 million • Tiger Woods 30 $87 million

Source Forbes 2009