Football superstar and world champion Lionel Messi earns more at his Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami than all football professionals at 22 of the other 28 MLS teams.
Messi, 37, receives a guaranteed income of $20,446,667, as the winner of this year's MLS regular season, according to figures from an overview published by the players' union. The union figures do not include payments from sponsors.
At $41.7 million, Miami's squad maintenance is significantly more expensive than any other in the league. Following them are Toronto with $31.8 million and the two teams from Los Angeles. The LA Galaxy squad costs $22.1 million, while LAFC pays $22 million in salaries.
Apart from these, only the entire team in Nashville ($21.9 million), Cincinnati ($21 million) and Houston ($20.5 million) earn more in total than Messi's Miami salary.
