The announcement of Erling Haaland’s extraordinary new nine-and-a-half-year deal at Manchester City has sparked fresh intrigue about the biggest contracts across global sport.
Haaland’s new deal is understood to make him Man City’s highest-paid player – a position which would also appear to now make him the highest earner in the entire league – but how might the Norway striker’s new contract compare to other leading stars in other sporting fields?
The Haaland news comes just a month after baseball’s New York Mets signed Dominican star Juan Soto to what is believed to be the largest deal in professional sports history – a reported remarkable 15-year, $765m (£626m) package.
ESPN reported at the time that Soto’s mega deal included a $75m signing-on bonus, no deferred money, a full no-trade clause and an opt-out after five years, which the Mets could get rid of by increasing his salary from $51m to $55m over the final 10 years of the deal.
And were the Mets to take up take that option, then it would make the deal worth $805m over the term of the contract, further dwarfing the $700m deal that Shohei Ohtani signed with LA Dodgers in 2023.
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Manchester City revealed Haaland’s new contract in bizarre fashion. Courtesy of City Studios.
What are the biggest annual and total contracts in sports?
Soto’s $51m annual salary is not the highest in world sport, though, according to Forbes.
Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly earns around $210m per year at Al Nassr, while Lionel Messi‘s 2017 contract with Barcelona earned him a reported annual salary of $168m.
While the exact financials of Haaland‘s new deal are naturally under closely-guarded wraps, the latest contract is an uplift on the Norwegian’s previous contract which Sky Sports News understands was in the region of £400,000 ($487,596) per week, making him Man City‘s highest earner.
That previous deal would have worked out as £20.8m ($25.4m) per year for the striker.
So even if we use those previous figures as a starting point and extend that over his now new nine-and-a-half-year term, Haaland’s fresh contract is clearly worth more than £197.6m ($241.3m) over its full duration.
Anything over $240m puts Haaland’s deal among the 50 most-lucrative sports contracts of all time.
In other sports, four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen has a reported annual salary of $60m at Red Bull, with an extra $15m in performance-related add-ons.
Soto will not even be the highest-paid player in the USA, as Dak Prescott will earn $60m per year with the Dallas Cowboys, while Steph Curry is the highest-paid NBA star with an annual salary of over $55m.
But in terms of overall money paid over the course of the full contract, Soto’s is far ahead of any other world sports star.
What Haaland said about his new deal
Reflecting on his new deal, Haaland said: “I am really happy to have signed my new contract and to be able to look forward to spending even more time at this great club.
“Manchester City is a special club, full of fantastic people with amazing supporters and it’s the type of environment that helps bring the best out of everybody.
“I also want to thank Pep [Guardiola], his coaching staff, my team-mates and everyone at the club as they have all helped me so much in the past couple of years. They have made this such a special place to be and now I am City no matter what.
“I want to keep developing, keep working to get better and look to do my best to try and help us achieve more success going forward.”
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Haaland commits his long-term future to Manchester City and says signing a new deal to 2034 was an ‘easy decision’. Courtesy of City Studios
Deal follows ‘months’ of negotiations
Sky Sports News reporter Ben Ransom:
“It’s absolutely titanic. What a signing for Manchester City. What a moment to put this news out as well.
“They are calling it a 10-year contract because we’re in year one. It’s unprecedented in terms of the length of contract that Manchester City have given to a player.
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A look at all the angles of Haaland’s audacious chip in Manchester City’s 4-1 win over West Ham
“In terms of a player to give it to, who better than Erling Haaland? A man who has already achieved so much in his two and a half years here and scored so many goals.
“You can only begin to dream where his tally might end up if he stays right through to 2034, when he will be 34.
“He is obviously a player that loves Manchester City. He is someone who was born into a family that had a real affiliation with City through his dad Alfie Haaland.
“From City’s point of view, there’s real delight that he has committed his future.”
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