REVEALED: The staggering amount Barcelona players pocket as top earners in world sport

A global study into the earning power of some of the world's top sports teams has shown that players at Spanish giants Barcelona stand head and shoulders above their peers when it comes to amassing wealth.

The Catalan side, along with their Spanish rivals Real Madrid and Italian powerhouse Juventus, are the biggest payers among sports teams on the planet, per the 2019 Global Sports Salaries Survey.

The annual look into the finances of sport, now in its 10th year, concluded that the average salary of a Barcelona player is a massive $12.28 million - however that sum is down from last year's tally of $13.6 million, a figure inflated somewhat by Lionel Messi's gargantuan salary.

The pay for players like the Argentinian magician is further enhanced by sponsorships and endorsement deals, though these figures are not included in the survey.

According to the yearly Forbes 100 list of the best-paid sports stars, Messi was the world's highest paid athlete of 2019 after raking in $127 million this year while his perennial rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, sits in second place with a figure closer to $109 million.

However, Ronaldo's 2018 transfer to Juventus appears to have significantly upped their wage bill, as they rise to third place in this year's list compared to ninth a year ago.

Indeed, after the first three positions are taken up by football teams, it is the NBA which becomes the best paid sporting franchise around, as it completes the list from fourth place all the way to 10th with the Portland Trailblazers ($10.03 million) and the Golden State Warriors ($9.92 million) being the two highest payers.

The NBA remains the best-paying league in the world overall, with an average salary per player of $8.32 million. 

In the NFL, the biggest rise in the list was by the Buffalo Bills who climbed 60 spots from 152 to 92, while the first ever team to top the list in 2012, the New York Yankees, don't make the top 10 this time around.