Highest-Paid Asian Footballers Right Now, Ranked
On this page15
- 01Highest-paid Asian footballers at a glance
- 02Kim Min-jae — Bayern Munich (~€15.0M/yr)
- 03Son Heung-min — LAFC (~$11.2M/yr)
- 04Salem Al-Dawsari — Al-Hilal (~€7.05M/yr)
- 05Ritsu Doan — Eintracht Frankfurt (~€5.66M/yr)
- 06Takefusa Kubo — Real Sociedad (~€5.2M/yr)
- 07Kaoru Mitoma — Brighton (~£4.1M/yr)
- 08Lee Kang-in — Paris Saint-Germain (~€4.5M/yr)
- 09Hwang Hee-chan — Wolves (~£3.9M/yr)
- 10Wataru Endo — Liverpool (~£2.6M/yr)
- 11How we ranked them
- 12Where currency conversion muddies the ranking
- 13At-a-glance salary table
- 14Why club pay, not total earnings
- 15How these wages compare globally
Players are ranked strictly by reported annual club salary — base pay plus disclosed bonuses — for the 2025-26/2026-27 season. Transfer fees and unconfirmed endorsement income are excluded; only what a club pays the player counts.
Highest-paid Asian footballers at a glance
| Rank | Player | Club | Reported annual club pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kim Min-jae | Bayern Munich | About €15.0M including bonuses |
| 2 | Son Heung-min | LAFC | About $11.2M |
| 3 | Salem Al-Dawsari | Al-Hilal | About €7.05M |
| 4 | Ritsu Doan | Eintracht Frankfurt | About €5.66M |
| 5 | Takefusa Kubo | Real Sociedad | About €5.2M |
| 6 | Kaoru Mitoma | Brighton | About £4.1M |
- Bundesliga benchmark
Kim Min-jae — Bayern Munich (~€15.0M/yr)
Kim's Bayern deal is reported at €12 million in base salary plus roughly €3 million in bonuses through June 2028, a combined figure near €230,000 a week that no other Asian player matches once incentives are counted. That total is the reason he ranks above Son Heung-min: even after converting Son's MLS package to euros, the ~€15 million top-line number sits clearly ahead.
Bayern paid a reported €50 million to sign him from Napoli in 2023, months after he anchored the Scudetto-winning side. Korean and Turkish clubs have circled since, but the wage itself has become the sticking point — moving him is expensive precisely because Bayern pays him at this level.
Club: Bayern Munich · Position: Centre-back · Deal runs to: June 2028 · Base + bonus: ~€12M + ~€3M
- MLS marquee
Son Heung-min — LAFC (~$11.2M/yr)
Son left Tottenham Hotspur in August 2025 after a decade, joining LAFC in a deal MLS reported as a record $26.5 million transfer fee. His guaranteed compensation of about $11.2 million is second in MLS behind only Lionel Messi — he and Messi were the league's only players above $10 million in 2026.
He ranks below Kim only on raw club pay; his global endorsement portfolio likely narrows the gap, though neither club discloses off-field income. As South Korea's all-time leading scorer and a shared 2021-22 Premier League Golden Boot winner, he remains among Asia's most marketable athletes even outside Europe's top five leagues.
Club: LAFC · Transfer fee: ~$26.5M (MLS record) · MLS rank: 2nd behind Messi · Contract: through 2027, options to 2029
- Saudi Pro League top earner
Salem Al-Dawsari — Al-Hilal (~€7.05M/yr)
Al-Hilal's captain earns an estimated €7.05 million a season, around €135,000 a week, making him the highest-paid Saudi national in the Saudi Pro League even with imported stars on far larger foreign-player wages at the same club. His deal runs to June 2027.
His stoppage-time winner against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup is still one of the tournament's iconic goals. Steady output for a perennial AFC Champions League contender has kept his wage climbing as Al-Hilal chases continental and domestic trophies — the one player here whose top-three salary comes entirely from a domestic Asian league.
Club: Al-Hilal · Nationality: Saudi Arabia (captain) · Deal runs to: June 2027 · Signature moment: 2022 WC goal vs Argentina
- German-league bet
Ritsu Doan — Eintracht Frankfurt (~€5.66M/yr)
Doan moved from SC Freiburg to Eintracht Frankfurt on a five-year deal reported at €28.3 million in total value, putting his estimated annual salary near €5.66 million. Frankfurt nearly matched his prior wage on a longer contract — a bet on a Japan international who was a Champions League regular at Freiburg.
He is the highest-paid of the three Japanese players on this list, edging Takefusa Kubo by roughly €0.5 million a year, which reflects how aggressively Bundesliga clubs now pay for Japanese attacking talent.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt · Contract: 5 years, ~€28.3M total · Nationality: Japan · Prior club: SC Freiburg
- La Liga creator
Takefusa Kubo — Real Sociedad (~€5.2M/yr)
Kubo's Real Sociedad extension is worth roughly €20.8 million over four years to June 2029, about €100,000 a week. A former Barcelona academy player who returned to Spain via Mallorca and Villarreal loans, he has become Sociedad's most creative attacker.
The salary is a hold-onto-him move: Sociedad is paying past the point where bigger clubs usually poach its best players, betting the wage keeps him through his prime rather than losing him for a fee.
Club: Real Sociedad · Contract: to June 2029, ~€20.8M total · Nationality: Japan · Role: lead creative attacker
- Retained wide threat
Kaoru Mitoma — Brighton (~£4.1M/yr)
Brighton handed Mitoma a deal worth about £80,000 a week, roughly £4.1 million a year, to fend off interest from wealthier Premier League and European sides. His drop-shoulder dribble made him one of the league's most dangerous wide players soon after his 2021 move from Kawasaki Frontale.
Brighton typically sells its best players rather than re-signs them, so paying near the top of its wage structure to keep him is the tell here — the club decided he was worth breaking its own model for.
Club: Brighton · Wage: ~£80k/week · Nationality: Japan · Joined from: Kawasaki Frontale (2021)
- Ligue 1 rotation
Lee Kang-in — Paris Saint-Germain (~€4.5M/yr)
Lee earns roughly €87,500 a week, about €4.5 million a year, at Paris Saint-Germain after joining from Mallorca in 2023. He is a rotation piece rather than a guaranteed starter, but PSG — 2025 Champions League winners and repeat Ligue 1 champions — pays squad players at a level that outstrips many starters elsewhere.
That is why he sits above Hwang Hee-chan despite similar headline euros: being on the books of a treble-winning European champion carries a wage floor that a mid-table Premier League club can't match.
Club: Paris Saint-Germain · Wage: ~€87.5k/week · Nationality: South Korea · Joined from: Mallorca (2023)
- Value forward
Hwang Hee-chan — Wolves (~£3.9M/yr)
Wolves' South Korean forward earns about £75,000 a week — roughly £3.9 million a year — plus performance bonuses reported to add up to £780,000 more, said to be the highest fixed salary in the squad. His 2022 move from RB Leipzig became one of the club's best-value signings.
His extension through 2028 locked in a presser and goal contributor who consistently outperforms Wolves' mid-table wage bill, which is why the club made him its top fixed earner rather than a rotation option.
Club: Wolves · Base wage: ~£75k/week (+ up to £780k bonuses) · Nationality: South Korea · Contract: through 2028
- Anfield squad depth
Wataru Endo — Liverpool (~£2.6M/yr)
Endo earns a reported £50,000 a week, roughly £2.6 million a year, on a deal to 2027 — well below Liverpool's top earners but a notable jump from his Stuttgart wages. He arrived in 2023 as depth and became a reliable defensive-midfield rotation option.
He ranks last here for a simple reason: his is the only sub-£3-million wage on the list, reflecting a squad role rather than a marquee one, yet it still places him among the highest-paid Japanese players in England.
Club: Liverpool · Wage: ~£50k/week · Nationality: Japan · Joined from: VfB Stuttgart (2023)
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- Kim Min-jae — Bayern Munich (~€15.0M/yr)
- Son Heung-min — LAFC (~$11.2M/yr)
- Salem Al-Dawsari — Al-Hilal (~€7.05M/yr)
- Ritsu Doan — Eintracht Frankfurt (~€5.66M/yr)
- Takefusa Kubo — Real Sociedad (~€5.2M/yr)
- Kaoru Mitoma — Brighton (~£4.1M/yr)
- Lee Kang-in — Paris Saint-Germain (~€4.5M/yr)
- Hwang Hee-chan — Wolves (~£3.9M/yr)
- Wataru Endo — Liverpool (~£2.6M/yr)
Audience ranking
How everyone ranked them
Built from reader rankings using position-based points.
Twenty years ago, an Asian player starting for a Premier League club made headlines just by being in the XI. Now Kim Min-jae anchors Bayern Munich’s back line, Son Heung-min captains LAFC after a record MLS move, and Saudi Pro League money has built a second high-wage track outside Europe entirely. The ranked cards above list who earns what, built from club-salary trackers rather than guesswork — transfer fees don’t count, only what lands in a player’s pocket.
How we ranked them
Players are ordered by reported annual club salary — base pay plus disclosed bonuses — for the 2025-26/2026-27 season, using figures compiled by finance trackers Capology and Spotrac and cross-checked against club and league salary reports where available.
Transfer fees are excluded because they are payments between clubs, not to the player. Unconfirmed endorsement estimates that some outlets fold into “total earnings” are excluded too, since they can’t be verified against a contract. Clubs almost never disclose exact terms, so every number is a reported estimate, and the order can shift when new deals are signed.
Where currency conversion muddies the ranking
Because these wages are paid in euros, dollars and pounds, direct ranking gets fuzzy in the middle of the table. A £4.1 million Premier League wage and a €4.5 million Ligue 1 wage are close enough that exchange-rate swings alone can reorder them month to month.
That’s why the cards lean on the underlying deal — contract length, squad status, bonus structure — rather than a single converted number. The top three (Kim, Son, Al-Dawsari) are far enough apart that conversion doesn’t change the order; the €4–6 million cluster below them is where reasonable trackers disagree.
At-a-glance salary table
| Rank | Player | Club | League | Reported salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kim Min-jae | Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | ~€15.0M/yr |
| 2 | Son Heung-min | LAFC | MLS | ~$11.2M/yr |
| 3 | Salem Al-Dawsari | Al-Hilal | Saudi Pro League | ~€7.05M/yr |
| 4 | Ritsu Doan | Eintracht Frankfurt | Bundesliga | ~€5.66M/yr |
| 5 | Takefusa Kubo | Real Sociedad | La Liga | ~€5.2M/yr |
| 6 | Kaoru Mitoma | Brighton | Premier League | ~£4.1M/yr |
| 7 | Lee Kang-in | Paris Saint-Germain | Ligue 1 | ~€4.5M/yr |
| 8 | Hwang Hee-chan | Wolves | Premier League | ~£3.9M/yr |
| 9 | Wataru Endo | Liverpool | Premier League | ~£2.6M/yr |
Reported base salary plus disclosed bonuses, compiled from Capology and Spotrac. No club has confirmed an exact number; treat these as informed estimates.
Why club pay, not total earnings
Ranking by club salary rather than “total earnings” is a deliberate choice. Endorsement income for players like Son Heung-min can run into several million dollars a year, but those figures are rarely disclosed and impossible to verify against a contract. Using club pay keeps every entry on the same measurable footing.
It also changes the order. On a total-earnings basis, Son’s global marketing pull might close his gap with Kim Min-jae or even overtake it. On club pay alone — the standard this list uses — Kim’s bonus-inclusive Bayern deal stays in front.
How these wages compare globally
Even the top Asian earners sit below the very highest wages in world football. For the broader picture these players compete inside, see our highest-paid soccer players list, and for how the Premier League contingent stacks up domestically, our highest-paid UK footballers breakdown covers the wider wage table they belong to.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the highest-paid Asian footballer right now?+
By reported club salary, Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae tops the list at roughly €15 million a year (about €12M base plus €3M in bonuses). Son Heung-min is next on about $11.2 million guaranteed compensation at LAFC, with Saudi Arabia captain Salem Al-Dawsari third at an estimated €7.05 million at Al-Hilal. All three are reported estimates, since clubs do not publish exact wages.
Why did Son Heung-min's salary figure change in 2025?+
Son left Tottenham Hotspur in August 2025 for LAFC in a deal MLS reported as a record $26.5 million transfer fee, ending a decade in the Premier League. His MLS guaranteed compensation of about $11.2 million ranks second in the league behind only Lionel Messi, but it sits below the very top wages in Europe's biggest leagues, which is why his ranking shifted.
Is Kim Min-jae really paid more than Son Heung-min?+
On raw club salary, yes. Kim Min-jae's Bayern deal totals about €15 million a year including bonuses, which converts to roughly $16 million — ahead of Son's $11.2 million MLS figure. Son's global endorsement income likely closes much of that gap, but neither club discloses off-field earnings, so this ranking uses club pay only rather than total earnings.
Which league pays Asian footballers the most?+
The Bundesliga and Saudi Pro League produce the two highest individual wages here, through Kim Min-jae at Bayern and Salem Al-Dawsari at Al-Hilal. The Premier League and La Liga host more of these players overall, spreading solid wages across a larger group of Japanese, South Korean and Saudi internationals rather than concentrating one very large deal.
Are these salary figures confirmed by the clubs?+
No. Clubs almost never publish exact wages, and none in this piece have. The figures come from football-finance trackers such as Capology and Spotrac, which compile reported salaries from contract disclosures, agent briefings and league salary releases, then cross-check them against multiple outlets. Treat every number as an informed estimate that can move when new deals are signed.
How many Japanese players are among the highest earners?+
Three make this list: Ritsu Doan (Eintracht Frankfurt), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) and Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), each earning roughly €4.5 million to €5.7 million a year. Wataru Endo at Liverpool adds a fourth Japan international lower down. Together they show how deep Japan's pipeline into Europe's top five leagues has become over the past decade.
Do Saudi Pro League wages count toward this list?+
Yes, when the player holds a Saudi Arabia national's passport — Salem Al-Dawsari at Al-Hilal is the benchmark. Foreign stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema earn far larger Saudi Pro League wages, but they are not Asian footballers and so do not qualify for a ranking of Asian players' salaries.
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