Despite the fact that football is "the world's most important side issue", that is slowly but surely becoming more business than sport, players are far behind their colleagues in other sports in terms of salaries. Just don't show this article to Cristiano Ronaldo.

After Cristiano Ronaldo said last month that he was sad, Spanish media have speculated that the reason for his sadness is small salary. He is one of the best players on the planet, but even nine other players have higher salary than him.

In what kind of a depression will he fall if he finds out that his salary is equal to that of the 52nd best paid baseball player of the MLB league?

Cristiano Ronaldo's salary in Real Madrid is about $13 million per year, and it's a minimal compared with other sports. He receives as much as the wage of Andrew Bogut of the Golden State, the 36th best paid basketball player in the NBA, than Matt Ryan, the 13th best paid rugby player from Atlanta Falcons and Travis Hafner, 52nd on the list of best paid baseball players in the MLB league.

Lionel Messi with $13.6 million is at the same level with Tyson Chandler from New York Knicks, which is 29th best paid in the NBA, the same as the 10th best paid in the NFL and 49th in MLB.

The only football player that to some extent can be worn with the salaries of the players from other sports is the best paid footballer on the planet, Samuel Eto'o. His salary in Anzhi is about $26 million per year, which is much more than the best paid NFL player (Dwight Freeney $ 19 million).