Manchester United are among the 10 best-paying teams in world sport, while another football side has become the first club in sports history to pay an average salary of more than £10 million a year.
Click through the gallery above to see the 12 best-paying football clubs, and their average basic annual pay, according to GSSS.
The Global Sports Salaries Survey (GSSS) was published by Sportingintelligence on Monday, and it revealed that FC Barcelona has become the first team across all sports to break the £10 million (R178 million) average pay per annum barrier.
"LaLiga giants Barcelona, home to Lionel Messi, are the best-paid team in global sport and the first sports team in history to have average basic annual pay of more than £10m," the report read.
"Barcelona return to the top of the pay rankings in this ninth edition of the GSSS for the first time since our 2012 report. The average annual basic first-team salary at the Nou Camp is currently £10 454 259 (that's £201 043 [R3.6 million] per week) in late November of the 2018/19 season, according to the GSSS research."
United sit in 10th place in the comparison of salaries among global sport clubs. The Red Devils are the fourth-highest ranked football team, paying an average salary £6.53 million (R116 million).
Italian side Juventus are the third-highest ranked football side, and sit in ninth position overall, with £6.73 million (R120 million), while Real Madrid follow their bitter rivals Barcelona in second position, with £8.09 million (R144 million).
Read: The Highest-Paid Chelsea Stars After Kante Extension
Note: Sportingintelligence explained their metric as follows: "The unique metric of the GSSS is 'average first-team pay' – allowing the best like-for-like comparison between vastly different sports in leagues and countries around the world. 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 our figures as they are not always guaranteed."
Why do you think Barca's wage bill is so high? Have your say in the comments section below.
