The richest team in the world, Real Madrid, boasted sales of $400 million last year, while the average player in Britain's top soccer league earned a cool $2.2 million. A new batch of broadcasting deals beginning this year could take the highest British footballer salary to $20 million.
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And with so much money up for grabs, it stands to reason that the most successful soccer players will 
want to flash their cash on the road. David Beckham, who has a contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy worth a projected $275 million over five years, has splashed millions on a car collection that at one time included an Aston Martin DB7, a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Porsche 911 Turbo.
"For the most part, he collects cars," said Beckham's agent, Simon Oliveira, "tending to buy or sell them based on his keen interest in their heritage and history." Oliveira would not comment on the specifics of Beckham's collection-which is also said to include an armor-plated BMW X-5 and a Rolls-Royce Phantom-but he told Forbes.com that Beckham had already sold the Porsche 911 Turbo he drove in Los Angeles last December.
The cars "footballers" drive often reflect their rags-to-riches career paths. Manchester United star Wayne Rooney began his career with a $20,000 Ford Ka; he now has a $1.5 million collection that includes a $175,990 Bentley Continental GT. Even Beckham drove a humble Ford Escort back in the mid-1990s.
Decadent Drives
But even the most successful footballers hit speed bumps. Take Eric Djemba-Djemba, the Cameroonian mid-fielder who currently plays for Doha-based Qatar Sports Club. He was declared bankrupt in a Birmingham, U.K., court last year. His former agent later told the French media that Djemba-Djemba's 
fleet of 10 SUVs helped explain why.
Perhaps a safer option for footballers would be to avoid paying for cars at all. Many automakers have witnessed the benefits of brand sponsorship, with Audi choosing to team up with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United. Hence Cristiano Ronaldo's complementary Audi R8-part of the brand's sponsorship deal with the team-which otherwise would have set him back at least $109,000.
Professor Alan Bairner, of Loughborough University's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, says footballers' success has led to a change of heart for automakers, some of which had previously preferred to be associated with a more traditional and up-market class of driver.
"Some companies in the past might not have wanted to be associated with footballers as opposed to a different kind of clientele," he says. "Nowadays, they think that it sells, or helps to sell the car."
Their seven-figure paychecks also enable these footballers to put their vehicles through extreme mechanical makeovers. David James, former goalkeeper for England, spent $4,000 on an eco-makeover for his hum-drum Chrysler, asking specialist company Blooming Futures to make the engine run mostly on rapeseed oil.
But James is the exception. It will likely take some time-and, no doubt, a drastic cut in pay-before footballers begin to drive green, rather than mean, machines.
