How much are MLS players paid?

The MLS Players Association (MLSPA) released a list of the salaries of the league's 841 players as of April 15, taking into account the salary and proportional annual bonuses in their contract. The average income for players who are not designated as one of the three franchise players for each team increased from $397,753 in 2021 to $438,728 in 2022, with an average growth of more than 10% over the past five years.

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Part of the salary improvement has to do with the growth of MLS, as the good work of the league's management bringing in more money, which is reflected in the salaries of the top players.

Best paid players in Major League Soccer

As for the 20 highest paid players for 2022, there are four Mexicans. Carlos Vela left the throne of 2021, when he received 6.3 million dollars, and is out of the Top 5 even for this season, while Chicharito remains among the three highest paid, as has been the constant since he arrived at the Galaxy in 2020, when he topped the list with 7.2 million, although the last two seasons his salary was 6 million.

Carlos Salcedo and Rodolfo Pizarro are also on the list, although the midfielder has played for Rayados this semester, and there is also the presence of players with a past in Liga MX, such as Lucas Zelarayán, Raúl Ruidíaz, Franco Jara and Gustavo Bou.

Shaqiri is the first non-Mexican player to top the MLS list since Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned to Europe. He joined the Chicago Fire this season from Lyon of the French League.

Transparency Program

The reason the MLSPA publishes the Salary Guide is to provide transparency to players and fans by ensuring they are aware of the base salaries and guaranteed compensation arrangements for the 690 players currently working in MLS.

Next season will be crucial for the MLSPA as the salary agreement comes to an end and they will have to sit down to create a new agreement or renew it.

Franchise Players

MLS allows teams to have three players over the salary cap, better known as Franchise Players. In this rule, the league does not force all clubs to release all three, but what it does make clear is that they cannot have more.

It allows all franchises to have three players above that salary line. In this sense, it seeks that the teams do not have to "mortgage" their future for a title and gives priority to the hiring of youth players from different leagues of Concacaf and Conmebol, as well as players from lower leagues to shine.

In this sense, MLS does not want to be a retirement league for big stars, although they attract the public, but seeks to be a clear seller and trainer for the leagues of Europe with the income of millions of dollars in transfers. In this way, it maintains an impulse for the advancement of the sport in the country.

On the other hand, it seeks to generate a more competitive style that allows it to be a market of choice for top-level players to make the leap to Europe, although today it remains far from other options such as Brazil and Argentina, which lead the market, with Mexico behind.

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