The Top 14 is renowned as the highest-paying rugby club competition in the world and reports have revealed how much the best earners are taking home.
Respected French publication Midi Olympique has published findings by audit firm Nexia S&A which reveals that the average salary of the 520 players is €259,000.
The number is five times that of which a player in France’s second division, the PROD2, would earn and 33% higher than that of the Premiership and Japan Rugby League One.
However, the top earners in the premier club competition in France take home almost double that according to the publication.
Highest-paid players in France’s Top 14
Unlike many footballers, the salaries of rugby union players are not disclosed to the public but it is understood that as many as ten players gross around, if not more than, €600,000 (£723, 200) annually.
However, the strict salary caps in place in Europe mean that there are fewer such earners than in years gone by.
Still, according to Midi Olympique the likes of Racing 92’s Owen Farrell, Toulouse’s Antoine Dupont, La Rochelle’s Gregory Alldritt and Will Skelton, and Bordeaux’s Matthieu Jalibert are understood to be earning those massive salaries.
The report by Nexia S&A revealed that just 4% of the Top 14 players earn more than €480,000 with 27% earning less than €60,000.
Ranked: Highest-paid positions in the Top 14 as ‘rare species’ earn top Euro
Top 14 players’ salary breakdown:
Less than €60,000 per year: 27%
€60,000 to €120,000: 11%
€120,000 to €240,000: 26%
€240,000 to €360,000: 21%
€360,000 to €480,000: 10%
More than €480,000: 4%
Japan-based Springboks
While the report states that on average, the Top 14 clubs pay their players a third more than the Premiership and Japan Rugby League One teams, there are still those on lucrative deals outside of France.
The Premiership Rugby Salary Cap report earlier this year revealed that 16% of fly-halves in England’s top flight competition earn £400,000+(around €482, 100) a season – possibly the likes of George Ford, Marcus Smith and Finn Russell – with 3% of back-rowers earning the same handsome sum.
The publication claims that Springboks stars Cheslin Kolbe and Faf de Klerk ‘are close to earning’ a million Euros a season in Japan.
While fellow Bok Handre Pollard was reportedly earning almost a million Euros per season at Montpellier, it is understood that he took a pay-cut to join Premiership club Leicester Tigers.
READ MORE: Ranked: The highest-paid Premiership positions including shock lowest earners
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/top-14s-highest-earners-as-antoine-duponts-salary-rivals-japan-based-springbok-cheslin-kolbe