As much as fans would like to think otherwise, modern football is unashamedly focused on cold, hard and often dirty money.
With transfer fees skyrocketing, player wages rising and lucrative product deals reaching new heights, big money is now the dark beating heart of the great game.
The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are, without a doubt, among the highest-paid players in the world, but even football's top talents seem to be earning less every week these days.
Here are the top soccer earners around the world.
*All salary data courtesy of Capology
The Premier League
Dubbed as the 'best league in the world', logic would suggest that the Premier League also ranks among the top earners. That's not entirely true these days, although the English top flight has the highest wages in any European league – the best being the Saudi Pro League.
Given their exceptional wealth, it's no surprise that Manchester City have the highest paid player in the division on their roster. That's it Kevin De Bruyne (£400,000 p/w), his incredible quality makes him stand out in the Premier League, although he is closely followed by his ruthless counterpart. Erling Haaland (£375,000 p/w).
Rather unbelievably given their recent performance, the Manchester United duo of Casemiro (£350,000 p/w) and Raphael Varane (£340,000 p/w) are among the top five players in the Premier League, while Liverpool Mohamed Salah he sits in joint third place with weekly earnings of £350,000.
La Liga
La Liga used to boast that it was the highest paid in world football when Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar all represented the division, but the wages are not so high now. Having said that, there are still strong footballers in Spain's top flight.
The highest earner in Spain is a Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who earns £620,000 a week in Catalonia. The club's financial situation makes paying the Dutch international a major problem and is one of the reasons he is often linked with a move away from Barca in every transfer window.
Barca also boasts a second-best player Robert Lewandowski (£449,000 p/w), another talented star who takes the lion's share of the wage bill, but it's Real Madrid who round out the top five.
Veterans in the Real team have been rewarded for their years of service, with Toni Kroos who earn £404,000 a week too Luka Modric bringing home £362,000 a week. The protector David Alaba and he's doing well for himself, earning £373,000 a week.
Bundesliga
No wonder he is the England captain Harry Kane leading the way in the Bundesliga. The acquisition of the former Tottenham forward has been seen as a major turning point in German football, with the striker earning £414,000 every seven days.
Bayern Munich actually employ 11 of the highest earners in Germany's top flight, with clubs Manuel Neuer (£348,000 p/w) and Thomas Muller (£348,000 p/w) next to Kane.
It's a significant drop for the highest-paid player not wearing the red and white of Bayern, and the Borussia Dortmund striker. Sebastien Haller (£182,000 p/w) top money maker outside Munich.
Serie A
Serie A once boasted world stars and rich footballers, but those years are long gone. It speaks volumes for the Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic earns more than any other player in Italy (£215,000), closely followed by the Napoli star Victor Osimhen (£212,000) – although he is likely to leave the league this summer.
Both Juventus and Inter dominate Serie A when it comes to finances, with Osimhen the only player not playing for one of the top ten clubs. Wojciech Szczesny (£199,000 p/w) and Alex Sandro (£184,000 p/w) the third and fourth highest paid stars are impressive.
Ligue 1
It is not difficult to guess who is the top earner in Ligue 1, although there is very little chance that he will make a living in France next season. Of course, Kylian Mbappe we refer to it, with the Paris Saint-Germain star taking home a staggering £1.19m weekly. That's before you take into account his sponsorship deals and performance bonuses.
A classic drop for the second highest paid player in Ligue 1 Ousmane Dembelewith the former Barcelona star making £331,000 against the week. Lucas Hernandez he's not far behind, taking home around £16,000 less than Dembele every week.
You have to look all the way down to Ligue 1's top-paid number 14 to find PSG's non-playing, sharp-shooting player. Wissam Ben Yedder Monaco earns £129,000 a week. To put that in context, Mbappe earns nine times more than him.
Mbappe's wages look pitiful when compared to other highly paid professionals in the new financial powerhouse of modern football – the Saudi Pro League. As you can imagine, Ronaldo he earns more than any other player in world football at Al Nassr with a weekly salary of £3.31m. That's just crazy.
A little behind him is Al Hilal Neymar and Al Ittihad's Karim Benzema (£1.66mp/w each), while it fits Riyad Mahrez he is better paid than any other European footballer Mbappe, he claims £865,000 every seven days.
There are top earners in Major League Soccer in the United States, but nowhere near the levels of the Saudi Pro League. Eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi he is North America's top earner, but his £185,000 salary pales in comparison to his arch-nemesis Ronaldo.
This is where things get even more complicated, as footballers, like most athletes, earn huge sums of money for their activities off the field as well as on it. Well, thank you Forbeswe can see some of the highest earners off the field in world football.
Ronaldo and Messi are at the forefront when it comes to this category, with the Argentine leading the financial battle by earning £56m a year off the pitch on top of his salary. In contrast, his Portuguese rival brings home a fantastic £48m a year.
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