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Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Womens Football, Cristiano Ronaldo, Football, Lionel Messi
Luke Davies
Topics: Womens Football, Cristiano Ronaldo, Football, Lionel Messi
The reported top ten highest-paid female footballers earn a lot less than their male counterparts, as numbers show a huge contrast in earnings.
UEFA Women’s Euro is currently taking place in Switzerland with the very best female footballers, including 2024 Women’s Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, putting on a show.
On Tuesday (July 22), England will face Italy in a highly anticipated semi-final clash in Lancy before Germany face Spain in Zurich on Wednesday (July 23).
And despite the talent on show and increasing revenue now associated with the female game, the players still earn a fraction of the amount male footballers do.
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Of course, this is not a new issue. For several years, former USWNT captain Megan Rapinoe, who boasts 203 caps for her country, was a leading voice on the topic, while Switzerland and Juventus star Alisha Lehmann gave her take on the topic in 2024.
She told La Repubblica: "I'm not a star, I'm a normal person. I go home, I cook, I do the same thing as everyone else.
"After training, I often tell Douglas [Luiz] that it's unfair. We do the same job, but he earns a hundred thousand times more than me.
"The Women's World Cup was probably the fifth most-watched sporting event in the world. Crazy, it was followed more than the Super Bowl. So, if you think about it, it's obvious that we have to have the same pay, at least nationally.”
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And despite some progress being made with US soccer pledging equal pay for men’s and women’s teams across all competitions in 2022, the pay gap is still glaringly obvious in other areas of the game.
In 2024, GiveMeSport ranked the top ten highest-paid female footballers based on their annual salary as shown below.
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1. Aitana Bonmati - £835,000
2. Alexia Putellas - £584,000
3. Sam Kerr - £449,000
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4. Racheal Kundananji - £385,000
5. Keira Walsh - £382,000
6. Ada Hegerberg - £332,000
7. Marta - £322,000
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8. Wendie Renard - £298,000
9. Christine Sinclair - £288,000
10. Trinity Rodman - £214,000
Yes, relative to the average wage in each player’s respective home countries, they are earning huge sums of money. But compare their salaries to men’s football and the figures are dwarfed.
Please note that the list below is based on on-field earnings and off-field endorsements and is from April 2025. Several players have since signed new contracts or moved on from their then-current clubs.
As reported by Spond earlier this year, Cristiano Ronaldo was by far the highest-earning men’s footballer on the planet, and he has since penned a lucrative new deal at Al Nassr to further boost his earnings.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo - £173m
2. Lionel Messi - £110m
3. Neymar - £95m
4. Kylian Mbappe - £90m
5. Karim Benzema - £85m
6. Mohamed Salah - £70m
7. Kevin De Bruyne - £50m
8. Erling Haaland - £50m
9. Robert Lewandowski - £45m
10. Sadio Mane - £40m