LONDON: Lionel Messi is listed as the richest footballer in the world, surpassing his arch-rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.

France Football magazine lists 10 players who received the highest salaries in 2019 which saw both players finish first and second.

Messi earned 120 million pounds last year, more than 11 million pounds compared to Ronaldo who played for Juventus.

Both players became players who managed to cross the benchmark over 100 million pounds.

The total income includes payments from salaries, bonuses, product ambassadors, commercial revenue and others.

The gap between the other players and the two stars is huge.

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Neymar earned 87 million pounds last year while Real Madrid striker Gareth Bale received 35.45 million pounds.

Bale overtook Antoine Griezmann who was in fifth place with the French international recording 35.25 million.

Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is the only player from the English Premier League to be on the list earning 30.96 million pounds.

The most surprising to be on the list is Andres Iniesta.

Despite leaving the Nou Camp for Japanese club Vissel Kobe in 2018, Iniesta is still generating high revenue of 31.14 million pounds in 2019.

France Football could deny Robert Lewandowski for this year’s Ballon d’Or award, but they could not rule out Bayern Munich striker in terms of revenue of £ 26.56 million.

Kylian Mbappe joined his teammate Neymar to be on the list, after earning 24.73 million pounds last year to complete the position of the 10 richest players.