Lionel Messi has more than doubled his salary to $25 million in his new contract with Inter Miami, earning more than twice as much as Major League Soccer’s (MLS) second-highest paid player, Los Angeles FC’s Son Heung-min.
Messi’s new contract includes $25 million in base salary and $28,333,333 in guaranteed compensation, the MLS Players Association said Tuesday in its first release of 2026 salaries.
He makes more than the payrolls of 28 of the other 29 MLS teams.
Highest paid players in Major League Soccer:
| Player | Club | Basic salary | Total compensation |
| Lionel Messi | InterMiami | $25,000,000 | $28,333,333 |
| Son Heung-min | LAFC | $10,368,750 | $11,152,852 |
| Rodrigo de Paul | InterMiami | $7,569,000 | $9,688,320 |
| Hirving Lozano | San Diego | $6,000,000 | $9,333,333 |
| Miguel Almirón | Atlanta United | $6,056,000 | $7,871,000 |
| Emil Forsberg | THE Red Bulls | $5,405,000 | $6,035,625 |
| Sam Surridge | Nashville SC | $5,270,000 | $5,933,000 |
| Riqui Puig | LA Milky Way | $5,125,000 | $5,792,188 |
| Thomas Muller | Vancouver | $5,000,004 | $5,152,504 |
| Jonathan Bamba | Chicago fire | $5,000,000 | $5,581,806 |
Messi’s original MLS contract, agreed to in July 2023, included a base salary of $12 million and guaranteed annual compensation of $20,446,667. Messi agreed to a three-year contract through the 2028 season last October and went on to lead the team to its first MLS title.
Messi, a forward who turns 39 next month, captains defending champion Argentina and is expected to play in his sixth World Cup. Messi scored 59 goals in 64 regular-season games with Miami, including nine in 11 games this season. He led the MLS with 29 regular-season goals last season and won his second straight MVP award.
His salary information is for his MLS contract and includes any marketing bonuses and agent fees, but does not take into account any additional agreements with the team or its affiliates, or performance bonuses.
Economic trends in the MLS
Miami’s payroll of $54.6 million is more than $20 million higher than that of LAFC, which is in second place at $32.7 million, and almost five times as much as Philadelphia’s lowest $11.7 million. Miami’s payroll is up from $46.8 million at the start of last season.
Toronto cut its payroll to $21.4 million from $34.1 million in early 2025, and LAFC increased its spending from $22.4 million to $32.7 million.
Total compensation for the league was $631 million and the average guaranteed compensation of $688,816 as of April 16 was 8.9% higher than $632,809 on October 1 of last year.
The MLS average salary — the point at which an equal number of players above and below earned — rose 4.1% to $352,104, up from $338,347 last fall. There were 133 players making $1 million or more, compared to 131 at the start of last season and 91 at the start of 2022.
(with input from The Associated Press)
Published on May 13, 2026
