Beckham tops salary list

David Beckham is the best paid player in the world, according to a survey published in France Football magazine yesterday.

With £17m a year, the England captain tops the table ahead of his Real Madrid team-mates Ronaldo, who earns £13.3m a year, and Zinedine Zidane, on £8.8m. The three each have salaries of £4.4m and collect £136,000 a year in bonuses.

But the 30-year-old Beckham earns an additional £12.6m in advertising contracts, with Ronaldo receiving £8.8m for his commercial deals and Zidane earning £4.4m for his.

The Internazionale striker Christian Vieri is fourth in the standings, earning a total of £8.2m.

Leading scorers in the wage stakes

1 David Beckham (Real Madrid) £ 17m

2 Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £13.3m

3 Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) £8.8m

4 Christian Vieri (Internazionale) £8.2m

5 Alessandro del Piero (Juventus) £6.5m

6 Frank Lampard (Chelsea) £6.4m

7 Raul (Real Madrid) £6.3m

8. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) £6.2m

9 John Terry (Chelsea) £5.9m

10. Luis Figo (Real Madrid) £5.8m