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What's the story?
The monetary involvement in Sport is always a huge factor for professionals. The astronomical salaries and transfer amount makes them an asset and immensely valuable to the teams they play in.
After a survey on the salaries, French media outlet L'Equipe reveals the highest paid athletes from France.
In case you didn't know...
It goes without saying that the French football players fill up the most slots in the top 10. France was the winner of FIFA World Cup 2018 and the players were the star of the tournament, belonging in the country's Golden Generation.
Moreover, the salaries of these rising stars are increasing continuously, more so for forwards which is why two of French forward line features in the top two
The heart of the matter
In the 16th edition of the French outlet's survey, Antoine Griezmann climbed up to the top spot on the list, replacing Manchester United star Paul Pogba. The Atletico Madrid forward earned a whopping €33 million in 2018 and remains the only player to earn more than 30 million in the year.
According to the report, Griezmann's fiasco with Barcelona last summer helped him get a more valuable contract with Atletico Madrid, almost double of his previous salary. The French forward's displays in Atletico Madrid's Europa League campaign were also taken into account during his contract renewal.
The second sport goes to PSG winger, Kylian Mbappé, who earns €24.7 million. His meteoric rise to fame in the last couple of seasons combined with some sensational performances at the biggest stages helped him get on this list, despite being just 20 years old.
Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema occupy the third and fourth spot in the list, respectively. Although Benzema did not feature for France, he did win the Champions League with Real Madrid and Club World Cup late in December.
Two other stars, Ousmane Dembele and Frank Ribery also made it to the top 10, occupying the seventh and tenth spot respectively.
Barring these six footballers, the top 10 features four basketball players- Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, followed by Joakim Noah and Evan Fournier.
What's next?
France will play against Iceland during the International break.
