I've always wanted to compare what Egyptian football players get with those abroad, so now's my chance. We know the difference is huge but we want to know how huge. A word of caution before we start. Because of the famously secretive nature of Egyptians, it is near impossible to know how much the country's footballers really make. Unless you pull out their finger nails or have them sit through a Fidel Castro speech, how much they have in their bank accounts remains as secret as how long the US plans to stay in Iraq. In both cases, it's anybody's guess. Since we are fresh out of torture chambers there are only a few methods to find out how much our soccer stars make. These include unsubstantiated newspaper reports, sports writers whose claims cannot be independently verified and, most important, my doorman and his in-the-know friends. I wouldn't bet my life on the following figures. The same should apply to you. We'll start with the local boys. The salaries are annual and we'll use the good old brownback, the Egyptian pound, as our monetary unit. Egypt's highest paid player doesn't play in Egypt. Mido of Tottenham makes almost LE 56 million a year. Egypt's highest paid footballer in Egypt comes from neither wealthy Ahli nor rich Zamlek. He's Hosni Abd Rabou of Ismaili who in July signed a three-year deal worth LE 2 million a year. Egypt's best footballer these days, Mohamed Abu Treika of Ahli, gets LE 1.25 million. However, Abu Treika, who is in the running for African Footballer of the Year, is said to be paid almost as much under the table to avoid bumping into the tax collector. Last week Ahli said it had turned down a LE33.5 million offer for Abu Treika from Premiership club Reading. Another Ahli big gun, midfield maestro Mohamed Barakat, pockets LE 1.2 million. The first appearance of a defender on the list, Emad El-Nahas, also of Ahli, takes in LE 1 million, as do Zamalek's power forward Amr Zaki and goalkeeper Abdel-Wahad El-Sayed. The next three are in the LE 900,000 bracket: Ahli goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari and Zamalek stars Hazim Imam and Ibrahim Saeed. Ismaili right back Ahmed Fathi is worth LE 850,000 and the Ahli man mountain Mohamed Shawki goes for LE 800,000. Ahli's two defenders Islam El-Shatir and club captain Shadi Mohamed come out with LE 600,000 each. Some of you are wondering what African players in Europe make. Didier Drogba of Chelsea and the Ivory Coast and whom we remember all too well from our African Nations Cup days, rakes in LE 55 million a year. For three consecutive years Africa's best player, Samuel Eto of European champions Barcelona and Cameroon earns LE 45 million. Not as famous, Amado Diarra of Real Madrid and Mali gets by on LE 38 million annually. And now the really global big boys. Number 1 is Ronaldinho who makes a rub your eyes in disbelief LE 131 million a year. France Football magazine claims the Brazilian s total annual income from salaries and other deals is a rub your eyes in more disbelief LE 177.5 million. Teammate Ronaldo is way off the pace but shouldn't be complaining about his LE 99 million. Christian Vieri of Sampdoria was not even on the Italian team which won last summer's World Cup but he's the richest of Italian players at LE 91.2 million. They have all supplanted perennial list topper David Beckham. Poster boy Beckham may be losing his luster at age 31 - he no longer plays for England, is no longer its captain and is a Real Madrid sub - yet he still earns a decent LE89 million for a living. Not bad for an out of work international who sits with club reserves.
