Barca remain world's best paid sports team, Madrid 2nd as Juve up to 3rd

Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid along with Italy’s Juventus are the best-paid teams in world sports according to the 2019 Global Sports Salaries Survey conducted by the website sporting intelligence.

Barca’s average pay is just over £9.8m, with Real Madrid in second place on £8.9m. But arguably the most significant development in the list of best remunerated teams is that Juventus – home to Messi’s great generational rival and nemesis, Cristiano Ronaldo – have climbed to No3.

The survey found the best paying English football clubs to be Manchester City and Manchester United, at No13 and No33 in the list, respectively paying almost £7m and jus over £6.1m basic per man.

Trophies or other successes will result in higher final pay via performance-related payments and bonuses. Other extras will accrue to many players (in all sports) through annualised signing-on fees and loyalty payments. 

These are not included in figures as they are not always guaranteed. A player due a loyalty bonus for completion of a given season, for example, doesn’t get it if he leaves

Other Europ's Top 5 leagues' average salary: