Barca and Madrid Pay Players Over USD7m a Year

As the two sides clashed for the second of four occasions in the coming weeks, it was revealed that Spanish La Liga soccer giants Barcelona and Real Madrid pay their players more than US$7m a year, on average.

Both sides have therefore overtaken Major League Baseball’s (MLB) New York Yankees as the best paid global sports teams after a review by Sporting Intelligence, found first team players’ average pay for the last season was $7.9m for Barcelona and $7.4m for Real Madrid, while the Yankees pay their players an average of $6.8m.

The fourth and fifth spots are occupied by National Basketball Association (NBA) teams the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic respectively, ahead of the reigning English Premier League soccer champions Chelsea in sixth.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal were also among the 30 best-paid teams, making the Premier League the best-paying soccer league in the world.

This year’s report has been compiled in association with ESPN The Magazine in the US.

Earlier this year it was revealed in a study by Deloitte that Real Madrid are at the top of the league table of the world’s 20 richest soccer clubs for the sixth straight year.

Barcelona was second on the list, with Manchester United third, but that particular review concentrates solely on day-to-day income from soccer business, and does not include debt, something that a number of top British clubs are financed by.