Women’s World Cup rich list dominated by US stars with one Lioness in top 15

The list of the top 15 richest women footballers in the world only includes one English star, according to new figures. With the Women’s World Cup now in full swing, Forbes magazine has taken the opportunity to publish a rundown of the planet’s most affluent female football stars and the result is a list dominated by the USA.

Top of the tree is veteran USWNT star Alex Morgan with reported earnings of £5.5m in the last 12 months. She is closely followed by veteran US hero Megan Rapinoe, who is playing at her last World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The only player to make it into the top five players from outside the United States is Catalan icon Alexia Putellas, who pocketed £3.1m over 12 months. But according to Forbes she only made £622,000 of that total from her actual wages. The rest is a result of off-field revenue earned from sponsorship and endorsement deals.

It is a similar tale for table-toppers Morgan and Rapinoe, whose actual playing salaries are similar to that of Putellas.

The only English woman to make it onto the list is Manchester City star Chloe Kelly. The 25-year-old made £311,000 in on-field earnings over the past 12 months but earned a further £622,000 off it.

Kelly shot to prominence after she came off the bench in the UEFA Women’s Euro Final to score the winning goal against Germany, handing England’s Women’s team it’s first-ever major trophy. Kelly has also starred in a Calvin Klein campaign alongside US star Morgan.

Trinity Rodman, Crystal Dunn, Sophia Smith, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Sofia Huerta complete the USWNT’s dominance of the top ten, which is completed by Norwegian international Ada Hegerberg.

Hegerberg was the first player ever to receive the women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018 but a torn ACL in January 2020 put her out of action for over 21 months. Despite being her country’s highest-paid female player, she spent five years away from the national team in protest at the way her football compatriots were being compensated.

Nevertheless, she can count on Nike, Hublot and Danone as commercial partners.

Chelsea’s Australian forward Sam Kerr is tied 11th with Kelly, but enjoys a slighter bigger playing salary. She is also one of only four players including Rapinoe who can say that they have been recreated in a Women’s football LEGO set that was launched in May. One to tell the grandkids.