Becks beats Ronaldinho to become football's top earning star
5 Jul 2008, 1644 Hrs

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London, July 5 (ANI): When it comes to earning mega bucks, footie ace David Beckham can still run rings around his Brazilian rival Ronaldinho.

Becks raked in a whopping 24.4 million pounds last year thanks to his salary at American club LA Galaxy, and his very lucrative advertising deals.

According to US magazine Forbes, Brazilian Ronaldinho, on the other hand, earned 16.3 millions pounds last year, reports The Sun.

Coming in at third place on 'Football's Top 20 Earners' list was Ronaldinho's Barcelona teammate Theirry Henry with 12.4 million pounds.

Becks' former Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo, now with AC Milan, came in fourth with an earning of 10.6 million pounds last year.

The top five was rounded off by Manchester United and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo, who earned 9.2 million pounds last year.

Paul Maidment, one of the list's authors said: "More TV money, more matches, more shirts shifted and more endorsements have translated into rising incomes for the world's top soccer stars."

The list of Football's Top 20 Earners as per Forbes magazine is:

1. David Beckham, LA Galaxy (24.4m GBP)

2. Ronaldinho, Barcelona (16.3m GBP)

3. Thierry Henry, Barcelona (12.5m GBP)

4. Ronaldo, AC Milan (10.6m GBP)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo, Man United (9.2m GBP)

6. Kaka, AC Milan (8.8m GBP)

7. Fabio Cannavaro, Real Madrid (8.7m GBP)

8. Andriy Shevchenko, Chelsea (8.7m GBP)

9. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool (8.5m GBP)

10. John Terry, Chelsea (8.5m GBP)

11.Wayne Rooney, Man United (8.1m GBP)

12. Francesco Totti, AS Roma (8.1m GBP)

13. Michael Ballack, Chelsea (8m GBP)

14. Frank Lampard, Chelsea (7.4m GBP)

15. Alessandro del Piero, Juventus (7.1m GBP)

16. Didier Drogba, Chelsea (6.7m GBP)

17. Rio Ferdinand, Man United (6.3m GBP)

18. Lionel Messi, Barcelona (5.9m GBP)

19. Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Real Madrid (5.5m GBP)

20. Oliver Kahn, Bayern Munich (5.1m GBP) (ANI)