Beckham best paid soccer player

Paris:

Soccer star David Beckham with his US$26.8 million per year income is the best paid soccer player in the world, according to France Football magazine's annual list, published today. It was the second straight year that Beckham - who turned 29 three days ago - topped the list. Two other players from Real Madrid followed Beckham on the list - Brazil's Ronaldo with income of US$19.7 million and French star Zinedine Zidane with US$16.7 million in revenue. Not all of Beckham's income is salary. That amounts to but US$7.6 million of the total. The English heartthrob gets another US$13.6 million for ad campaigns. A hefty advance for his book My Side and other sundry payments round out the total figure. "The gap is growing in an irreversible manner between the 'top,' those whose image and talent - especially image - help the sale of T-shirts, season tickets and derivative products, and the others, who occasionally give the impression of being there because you need 11 players in the field and a couple others on the bench," France-Football wrote. The magazine is published twice each week. (AP)