Messi and Mourinho lead rich list

One of the oldest and most respected football magazines in the world has today named Barcelona star forward Lionel Messi as the game's highest earning player. France Football shared the news in the light of Messi's £26.9 million annual income from wages and sponsorship deals. This places Messi around £3 million more than teammate Chrisiano Ronaldo, who earns a cool £23.9m. The magazine's top earners list placed the Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney at third in the countdown, with a yearly take-home of £18 million. Real Madrid's Kaka was placed fourth with £16.7 million. Buy FC Barcelona tickets here! The European stars currently plying their trade in America also fared well. David Beckham of LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls' Thierry Henry arrived at fifth and tenth respectively in the list. The manager's rich list was headed by the Real MAdrid manager Jose Mourinho with earning of £11.7 million. This placed him above rivals Pep Guardiola (£9.1 million) and the former Inter Milan coach Rafael Benitez (£8.8 million). The Italian manager of England Fabio Capello came in at fourth with a yearly reimbursement of £7.4 million.England National Team tickets are available on LiveFootballTickets.com