Mariga is East Africa´s highest paid player

Kenya and Inter Milan midfielder McDonald Mariga is the highest paid footballer in East Africa.

In a salary review carried by Soccerlens.com, Mariga takes home a cool $1.3m (about Sh104 million) a year.

This is way above what Burundian Saidi Ntibazonkiza earns at MKS Cracovia in Poland with $315,000 (£188,608) and Rwandan Olivier Karekezi on $52,000 (£31,169) a year.

The website does not mention top earners in Tanzania and Uganda, two other Eastern African countries.

Other top earners in the region include Djibouti’s Ismail Ahmed Kadar Hassan who features for Slovakia’s F.K. Dunajska Streda.

African list

He rakes in $51,500 (£30,835) a year. Somalia’s Abdisalam Ibrahim, who plays for England’s second division side Scunthorpe, earns $340,000 (£203,571).

Others mentioned in the African continent include Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City’s Yaya Toure who tops the African list with $18.2m (£10.9m) a year.

Algerian Nadir Belhadj earns $2.7m (£1.7m), Angola’s Manucho takes home $865,579 (£518,307), while Benin’s Stephane Sessegnon who plays for Sunderland gets $2.8m (£1.7m).

Publicity deals

Lionel Messi and Jose Mourinho are the richest men in football. Barcelona forward Messi, the two-time World Player of the Year, brought home €31 million from his salary and publicity deals in 2011, just ahead of Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo (€27.5 million) and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (€20.7 million).

Real Madrid manager Mourinho topped the manager’s rich list with an income of €13.5 million, ahead of Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola (€10.5 million) and former Inter Milan coach Rafael Benitez (€10.2 million).

England manager Fabio Capello came fourth with the Italian receiving a salary of €8.5 million. The English Premier League appears the most lucrative league of all with seven representatives in the top 20 list of highest paid players.

Two former Premier League stars, David Beckham and Thierry Henry, now playing in the MLS in the United States, are ranked fifth and 11 with salaries of €19 million and €13.6 million respectively.