According to France Football, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Kaká, David Beckham  top the list for the highest paid football superstars around the world for the 2010-11 season. The top 20 highest-earning footballers of 2011 are as follows:

   Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus

   2011 earnings: €11.3 million

Gianluigi Buffon, born in 1978, is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Juventus and the Italian national team. Buffon began his career in the youth system of Parma in 1991 at the age of 15 and transferred to Juventus in summer of 2001. He won the FIFA World Cup in 2006 and the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He is widely considered by fans and experts to be one of most dominant and successful goalkeepers in history.