British sport’s highest paid stars from Keely Hodgkinson to £16m-a-year Premier League trio

Three England internationals, despite only two of them being in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad, share the honour of being the highest-paid British footballers in the Premier League.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Manchester City’s Phil Foden, whose poor performances have seen him dropped from the England squad, penned staggering £300,000-per-week deals last year, matching Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, whose deal only has two years left. That’s £15.6m-a-year, before additional income from sponsorship deals.

However, head and shoulders above the rest is Foden’s City team-mate Erling Haaland, who earns an eye-watering £525,000-per-week contract – that’s £175,000 more than the joint second-highest earners across the league, Enzo Fernandez and Virgil van Dijk.

Arguably the greatest driver of all-time, Lewis Hamilton has the pay packet to match his seven-time world titles. Ferrari pay the 41-year-old £45million a year in the hope of landing the sport’s most iconic team a first drivers’ title since 2007 and Constructors’ Championship since 2008. But it hasn’t yet paid off.

Despite being absent from the Test team since the 2022 Ashes down under, Jos Buttler’s one-day and T20 contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (£700,000), Lancashire (undisclosed), Manchester Super Giants (£350,000-per-year) and Gujarat Titans (£1.4m) in the Indian Super League make him the highest-paid English cricketer at upwards of £2.45m a year.

Luke Littler continues to take darts by storm and has already earned £3m on the oche this year. ‘The Nuke’ also has a sponsorship deal with Target Darts worth £2m a year and has sponsorship deals with Xbox, KP Nuts and BoohooMAN, which are publicly undisclosed.

While Ronnie O’Sullivan is the most famous and richest British snooker player of all-time, it’s currently Mark Selby who has amassed the highest amount of prize money, not just by a Briton, but across the sport since the turn of the 2026/27 season. ‘The Jester from Leicester’ has won £330,000 so far this season.

It wouldn’t be anyone else, would it? Rory McIlroy’s staggering £41.2m off-course earnings through endorsements trounce everyone. His £3.7m prize money for retaining his Masters crown in April has also significantly bolstered his pockets.

Despite not being in the world title debate, Anthony Joshua’s mega endorsements and contract with Matchroom, reportedly worth upwards of £33m a year, see him top Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois. His other endorsements are said to be worth around £8.3m from the likes of Under Armour, Hugo Boss, Beats by Dre, and others. His comeback fight after his near-death car accident against Kristian Prenga earned him approximately £4m.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ has had two headline fights this year, where he pocketed £1.1m after losing to Justin Gaethje at UFC 324 in January, and upwards of £636,000 from his submission win over Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329, which also won him an extra £100,000 for the Performance of the Night.

Team GB’s golden girl, Hodgkinson is the highest-paid British athlete and has taken the commercial world by storm, as well as the athletics one. The Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallist has major global brand deals with Nike, Omega and Vitality, which have seen her net worth soar to around £4m.

Raducanu continues to battle injuries to find her top form, but the 23-year-old has still won £453,000 in prize money this year, which is a nice boost to her mega sponsorship deals. Raducanu signed a blockbuster deal with Japanese brand Uniqlo worth £2.6m after leaving Nike earlier this year.

Warrington Wolves star George Williams and Leeds Rhinos’ Brodie Croft top the highest-earning players in the UK Super League, with their deals worth around £350,000 as marquee players. A huge amount considering the overall club salary cap sits at around £2.1m.

Meanwhile, inside the Gallagher Premiership, Bath fly-half Finn Russell earns an estimated £1m per year – a league high, not just for British players. Saracens and England’s Maro Itoje is second on £800,000.