Top Paid Athletes By Country Per Year

ESPN released a very cool article that listed the top paid athletes in each country.

There were a lot of surprises the list and I’m sure you want to know who makes the most — as well as who makes the least.

When you look at the lowest paid athletes, it’s weird to see salaries on this list that are even lower than your own.

I’m not sure if it makes me feel better about my own salary, or worse about the shape of some countries’ economic conditions.

Let’s dive into the list.

Top 5 Highest Paid Athletes By Country Per Year

1.) Alex Rodriguez, USA. $32 million. No surprise here. People have been talking about A-Rod’s salary for over a decade now.

1.) Manny Pacquiao, Philippines. $32 million. He fought two fights in 2010. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

3.) Kimi Raikkonen, Finland.  $26.3 million. Never heard of the guy? Don’t feel bad, I hadn’t either. He’s a World Rally Championship superstar, apparently. And he makes a s**tload of money.

4.) Fernando Alonso, Spain. $22.7 million. Another race car driver, Alonso is a Formula One guy.

5.) Johan Santana, Venezuela. $21.6 million. The second baseball player in the top 5. Who says the MLBPA doesn’t have their s**t together?

Some of the high paid shockers on this list:

Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Republic. $19 million. I’ll say it again: Alfonso Soriano makes $19 million a year.

Valentino Rossi, Italy. $20.8 million. If I had one guess, for Italy I would have thought it would have been a soccer player. Nope. Rossi races motorcycles.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo. $11 million. Not a particularly well-known country, Togo has a per capita GDP of $480 per year. Dude could buy his home country when he retires.

Top 5 Lowest Paid Athletes By Country Per Year

1.) Michael Junior Jackson, Niue. $5,000. This sprinter gets paid for six weeks of training. You could say Niue isn’t a haven for world-class athletes. He could make more than $5,000 panhandling in New York.

2.) Santosh Sahukhala, Nepal. $8,430. From a country that’s better known for it’s Boba Fett-like warriors than its athletes, this soccer player needs to put down the soccer ball and pick up a khukuri.

3.) Fabrice Santoro, Tahiti. $19,500. Finally, we’re about up to minimum wage. This tennis player could use a side gig at CrackDonald’s.

4.) Misdongarde Betoligar, Chad. $21,500. I would imagine 21 large goes a long way in the middle of Africa. It may not be David Beckham money, but it probably covers the cost of plumbing.

5.) Lehlohonolo Seema, Lesotho. $34,300. His name looks an awful lot like Trololo.

To put some of these low ass salaries in perspective, keep in mind that A-Rod made $53,781 per at bat last year. Manny Pacquiao made $44,444 per punch.

Kinda makes you feel like s**t doesn’t it?