Top 10 Highest Paid Women Football Stars 2015

Women are now venturing in soccer and it has become a world wide fever, Women soccer is now being played at the professional level in many countries with more than 170 national female teams registered with FIFA compared to 209 national male teams.

While male soccer stars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale earn as much as $50 million per season, women soccer stars earn much less, some earn just thousands of dollars a year.

Here are the top 10 highest paid women soccer stars in the world.

10) Laure Boulleau – $60,000

The French International plays as a defender for both the France women’s national football team and the French club Paris Saint-Germain. She earns $60,000 annually.

9) Jonelle Filigno – $60,000

The 25year old Canadian International plays in the attacking role, she also plays in the United States for Sky Blue FC. She played her part beautifully in the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London as her team Canada went on to win Bronze in the competition. She earns a salary of around $60,000.

8) Hope Solo – $22,000 – $65,000

Popularly known by her maiden name Hope Solo, American soccer goal keeper Hope Amelia Stevens is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. The 34 year old has been playing soccer since 1996 formally as a forward but later switched to keeping for the US women National team since 2000. She also plays for American professional women’s soccer team Seattle Reign FC. Her salary is between $22,000 and $65,000, she also has several endorsement deals with Seiko, Simple Skincare, Nike, BlackBerry, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Gatorade and several others with Western Union joining list recently.

7) Nilla Fischer – $65,000

The Swedish football star plays for the German sports club VfL Wolfsburg. She made her debut with the Swedish national team in January 2001. She is also famous for her distinctive hairstyle.

Her salary is around $65,000.

6) Amandine Henry – $60,000 – $70,000

The 26years old French defensive midfielder plays for French women’s football club Olympique Lyon in the Division 1 Féminine. She is an important member of the French world cup team as her heroics in the tournament earned her the Silver Ball award as well as the tournament's 2nd Best Player at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Henry was also named among the best players in Europe in 2015, becoming a finalist in the annual UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award, finishing 2nd behind Célia Šašić.

Her salary is between $60,000 and $70,000.

5) Nicole Banecki – $90,000

The 27-year-old beautiful German football star Nicole Banecki is of Cameroonian decent. She played for Germany at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Chile. She currently plays for SC Freiburg (women). She wasn't picked for the 2013 UEFA European Championships in Sweden as Germany went on to win the trophy for the 8th time out of the 11 times the tournament has been hosted.

Her salary is around $90,000.

4) Sydney Leroux $60,000 – $92,500

The Canadian-born American professional soccer player Sydney Leroux is an Olympic gold medalist. After representing Canada at various youth levels, she chose to play for the United

States women's national under-20 soccer team starting in 2008 and later began playing for the U.S. senior national team in 2012. Leroux has earned over 50 caps with the senior national team and was part of the Americans' winning squad at the 2012 London Olympics.

She currently plays as a forward for the American professional soccer club Western New York Flash. She earns between $60,000 and $92,500.

3) Abby Wambach – $190,000 – $300,000

She's is the most achieved American soccer star, both male and female; she has won the FIFA player of the year in 2012 and numerous awards. Mary Abigail “Abby” Wambach is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She has been part of the United States women’s national soccer team since 2001 and retired in 2015. Abby holds the world record for international goals for both female and male soccer players with 184 goals.

She earns between $190,000 and $300,000 which likely paid by sponsors, because US National Women’s Soccer League’s salary is capped at $265,000.

2) Alex Morgan $265,000 -- $400,000

Another American Olympic gold medalist Alexandra Patricia “Alex” Morgan plays as a forward for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)’s team Portland Thorns FC. At a young age of 26, she is already a prolific goal scorer and also strikingly rich, she is reportedly to earn around $450,000 per season; if this report is true, that must be through subsidies or sponsors because the NWSL salary cap is $265,000. Alex also makes around $1 million through endorsements. she has signed endorsement deals with popular brands like Nationwide, Nike, Coca Cola, Bridgestone, Panasonic and ChapStick. She appears alongside Lionel Messi on the covers of video game magazine FIFA 16 sold in the US. Her net worth is estimated at $3 million.

1) Marta Vieira da Silva – $400,000

The 29-year-old Brazilian soccer star popularly known as Marta, currently plays for Swedish professional football club FC Rosengård and the Brazilian national team as a forward. The five-time FIFA World Player of the Year signed a two-year contract with Swedish football club Tyresö FF in 2012 which earned her a whopping salary of $400,000 per season; making her the highest-paid female footballer of all-time. The salary was reportedly paid by the club’s sponsors.

Some of the players on the list are making more money through endorsement deals.

Compiled by Adekunle Adewale