Premier League not the player on the planet's richest foot ball

Exclusive: A new survey shows that Premier League footballers are second division in the global sporting pay league up against their counterparts from basketball, baseball, cricket, American football and ice hockey.

Leading man: Wayne Rooney is well paid by British standards, less so on a global level Photo: GETTY IMAGES

It is well established that the Premier League is the world's richest football division and that its players are, collectively, the best-paid on the planet.

But it might surprise some people to learn that compared to the richest divisions in other globally popular sports – basketball, baseball, cricket, American football and ice hockey – England's finest come some way down the pecking order.

In fact, only two Premier League teams appear in the top 30 teams in world sport, ranked by average first-team pay. Chelsea are at No 4 and Manchester United No 14, according to a report to be published this week that compares wages in the world's major sports leagues on a like-for-like basis for the first time.

Baseball's New York Yankees top the list, with their players earning £89,897 per week each in 2009, and they are followed at No 2 and No 3 by the duopolists of Spanish football, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real's players had average first-team pay of £81,444 per week (£4.2 million a year) in the period under review, while Barca's earned £78,231 per week (£4.1 million) and Chelsea's £68,946 per week (£3.6 million).

Manchester United's comparable figures are £55,818 per week, or £2.9 million a year, while just outside the top 30 are Arsenal, at No 31 (with average pay of £50,289 per week; £2.6 million year) and Liverpool at No 33 (£48,662 per week, £2.5 million year).

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