Football: Barcelona pay top dollar

No wonder they are happy - Barcelona have the highest wage bill in football. Photo / AP

Barcelona top the list of the world's best-paid football teams but the Premier League in England has a higher average wage than any rival.

The 2017 Global Sports Salaries survey shows the average Premier League weekly wage has broken the £50,000 ($87,500) barrier — a first for any football league.

The top two clubs, Manchester United and Manchester City (both $9.2m), have a £100,000-a-week basic average across their squads.

La Liga leaders Barcelona pay their first-team squad nearly $11.5m, which includes Lionel Messi's $875,000-a-week contract extension to 2021.

Ambitious Paris Saint Germain are just behind on $11.3m with European champions Real Madrid on $10.9m.

Chelsea ($7.8m), Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are the next-biggest payers in English football.

The average yearly Premier League pay this season is $4.62m or $90,000 a week — well ahead of Spain's La Liga ($2.9m), Italy's Serie A ($2.3m), Germany's Bundesliga ($2.2m) and France's Ligue 1 ($1.65m).

The three best-paid teams in global sport all come from the NBA — Oklahoma City Thunder ($12.5m), Cleveland Cavaliers ($12.1m) and Golden State Warriors ($12m).