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Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi remains the world's highest paid footballer with an annual income of 74 million euros ($84.3 million, £59.3 million), according to a report set to appear in Tuesday's edition of France Football magazine.

Messi's earnings in 2015 rose by nine million euros compared to the previous figures, keeping the five-time Ballon d'Or winner ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (67.4m euros) and Neymar (43.5m euros) as the top three stayed unchanged for the third year running.

France Football's estimates were based on players' pre-tax salaries, sponsorship revenues and various bonuses, it added.

I always wondered why players earn that kind of money and still don't understand this. I know that they have to devote a lot of time for training, being a professional requires many sacrifices, but these amounts are crazy.... and It's interesting France Football puts Messi in first place but Forbes puts Ronaldo

They are both just estimating, they do not have true figures. While they can be certain of basic wages, they don't know about the bonus structure, true endorsement deals, merchandising. Bonuses are quite big in Europe.

Ronaldo has a perfume line, clothing lime which includes sunglasses, underwear, watches etc. And beside the basic amount that gets gets from Nike, there are also royalties on some of the products sold. I can mention a lot of things including property, hotels, Emirates endorsement, eish, let me just stop here.