Barcelona have become the first sports team in history with average basic first-team pay of more than £10million a year.
The Spanish giants, with
Lionel Messi as their talisman and best paid player, are spending £10,454,259 per man in the 2018-19 season, excluding extras such as signing-on fees and bonuses, according to a report to be published on Monday.
The 2018 edition of the Global Sports Salaries Survey (GSSS) puts Barca at No 1 in the world in average basic pay in a survey that includes 349 teams in eight sports across 18 leagues in 13 countries.
Barcelona are the first team to have an average basic first-team pay of more than £10m a year
Lionel Messi is the best paid player and signings like Philippe Coutinho have increased spend
Lionel Messi's career in 60 seconds
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Barcelona's fiercest domestic rivals in La Liga, Real Madrid, are No 2 on this year's pay list, averaging £8.1m, but only two other football teams (Juventus at No 10 and Manchester United at No 11) make the top dozen payers, with NBA basketball teams filling the rest of those spots.
The best paying team in world sport in 2017 were the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, now down to No 3 (on £7.85m average), followed by fellow basketball teams the Golden State Warriors (£7.82m) and the Washington Wizards (£7.6m).
That NBA trio break new ground of their own by becoming the first NBA teams - or indeed American teams from any sport - where average basic pay is more than $10m (US dollars) per player per year.
Barca's great rivals Real Madrid have the second highest average wage in the sporting world
Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder are two of the eight NBA teams in the top 12
THE BEST PAID FOOTBALL CLUBS IN THE WORLD
1 Barcelona - £10,454,259
2 Real Madrid - £8,089,582
3 Juventus - £6,726,615
4 Man Utd - £6,534,654
5 Bayern Munich - £6,352,435
6 Atletico Madrid - £6,155,066
7 PSG - £6,105,840
8 Man City - £5,993,000
9 Chelsea - £5,020,004
10 Liverpool - £4,862,963
Figures shown are the average basic yearly pay to the first-team
THE BEST PAID SPORTS LEAGUES IN THE WORLD
1 NBA - £5,905,912
2 IPL - £3,844,734 (pro rata)
3 MLB - £3,429,676
4 Premier League - £2,990,726
5 NHL - £2,115,617
6 NFL - £2,213,668
7 La Liga - £2,201,057
8 Serie A - £1,519,885
9 Bundesliga - £1,396,575
10 Ligue 1 - £989,776
Figures shown are the average basic yearly pay to the first-team
An extraordinary combination of extended contracts and new signings have lifted Barcelona's average basic pay from £6.6m a year ago.
A new deal for Messi signed last November pays him more than £50m a year guaranteed until 2021, with a £619m buyout clause.
Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti and Sergio Busquets have all signed lucrative extensions this calendar year (all with £442m buyout clauses) and new additions to the Barca wage bill have included Philippe Coutinho, signed from Liverpool in January, and Arthur, Malcolm and Arturo Vidal among others in summer 2018.
The Premier League remains the best paying football league in the world for the players
THE NEXT BEST PAID FOOTBALL LEAGUES
Chinese Super League - £799,212
Russian Premier League - £666,569
Turkish Super Lig - £656,675
Brazilian Brasileirao - £509,758
Canadian MLS teams - £395,1081
The latest GSSS shows the NBA remains comfortably the best paid sports league in the world by average pay, with US basketball competition averaging £5.9m per man in 2018-19.
The Premier League remains the highest paying football league in the world, at £2.99m per player this season, or £57,514 per week.
The survey found the highest average basic salaries in the Premier League are paid, in order, at Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, while the lowest paid teams are Cardiff, Huddersfield and Burnley.
The report contains exclusive analysis on sports pay from football analytics firm 21st Club and their sister firm, 15th Club, who work in golf and contributed to Europe's win over the USA in this year's Ryder Cup.
Omar Chaudhuri, the head of football intelligence at 21st Club, says Premier League clubs are paying more than twice the transfer fees of counterparts in Spain, Italy, Germany and France for players of the same quality, and this 'PL Premium' stretches to wages, where England's elite often pay two to three times the salaries that their rival leagues pay for players of the same quality.
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