Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho displaced David Beckham as the globe's highest-paid footballer, the French weekly France Football reported.
The 2005 winner of the Ballon d'Or for best footballer in the world, who plays with Barcelona, will earn a total of 23 million euros ($28.5 million) this year, nearly three times as much as he made in 2005.
This total includes a salary of 8.5 million euros in bonuses and about 14 million euros income from advertising.
Beckham came in second on the list, with earnings of 18 million euros for 2006, down from the 25 million euros he made last year.
He was followed by another Real Madrid 'Galactico', Brazilian striker Ronaldo with 17.4 million euros, England striker Wayne Rooney with 16.1 million euros and Monaco's Italian striker Christina Vieri at 16 million euros.
While there are only two Chelsea players among the world's top 20 earners, the club's outspoken coach, Jose Mourinho, topped the trainer list with 10.9 million euros.
Far behind in second place was England's Swedish coach Sven-Goran Eriksson with 6.9 million euros, followed by Manchester United trainer Alex Ferguson at 5.95 million euros.
http://www.santabanta.com/newsmaker.asp
