Highest athlete salaries by country:

[Blue_Tires]

Albania: Lorik Cana (Football) $2,500,000

Algeria: Nadir Belhadj (Football) $2,779,000

American Samoa: Domata Peko (American football) $2,950,000

Andorra: Ildefons Lima (Football) $531,822

Angola: Manucho (Football) $865,579

Argentina: Carlos Tevez (Football) $19,000,000

Armenia: Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Football) $360,000

Australia: Andrew Bogut (Basketball) $11,050,000

Austria: Thomas Vanek (Ice hockey) $6,400,000

Azerbaijan: Aleksandr Samedov (Football) $1,287,000

Bahrain: Abdullah Omar Ismail (Football) $202,086

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Cricket) $425,000

Belarus: Alexander Hleb (Football) $3,300,000

Belgium: Vincent Kompany (Football) $5,340,000

Benin: Stephane Sessegnon (Football) $2,800,000

Bermuda: Reggie Lambe (Football) $480,000

Bolivia: Marcelo Moreno (Football) $883,449

Bosnia: Edin Dzeko (Football) $8,470,000

Botswana: Mogogi Gabonamong (Football) $354,000

Brazil: Felipe Massa (Motorsports) $17,052,632

Brunei: Darussalam Craig Adams (Ice hockey) $550,000

Bulgaria: Dimitar Berbatov (Football) $6,700,000

Burkina Faso: Charles Kabore (Football) $1,118,000

Burundi: Saidi Ntibazonkiza (Football) $315,000

Cameroon: Samuel Eto'o (Football) $8,000,000

Canada: Jason Bay (Baseball) $18,125,000

Cape Verde: Cafu (Football) $287,000

Central African Republic: Eloge Enza Yanissi (Football) $206,000

Chad: Misdongarde Betoligar (Football) $21,500

Chile: Mark Gonzalez (Football) $9,324,958

China: Yao Ming (Basketball) $17,700,000

Colombia: Juan Pablo Montoya (Motorsports) $5,088,410

Comoros: Kassim Abdallah (Football) $120,000

Cook Islands: Stan Wright (Rugby Union) $204,000

Costa Rica: Bryan Ruiz (Football) $1,720,828

Ivory Coast: Yaya Toure (Football) $18,200,000

Croatia: Luka Modric (Football) $4,900,000

Cuba: Yuniesky Betancourt (Baseball) $4,300,000

Curaçao: Jair Jurrjens (Baseball) $3,250,000

Cyprus: Constandinos Charalambides (Football) $1,589,000

Czech Republic: Petr Cech (Football) $7,400,000

Dem. Rep. of the Congo: Herita Ilunga (Football) $2,730,000

Denmark: Daniel Agger (Football) $4,500,000

Djibouti: Ismail Ahmed Kadar Hassan (Football) $51,500

Dominican Republic: Alfonso Soriano (Baseball) $19,000,000

Ecuador: Antonio Valencia (Football) $6,361,983

Egypt (Tie): Mohammed Zidan (Football) $2,580,000 and Mohamed Abu Treika (Football) $2,580,000

El Salvador: Arturo Alvarez (Football) $201,922

England: Lewis Hamilton (Motorsports) $18,473,684

Equatorial Guinea: Rodolfo Bodipo (Football) $430,000

Eritrea: Zersenay Tadese (Track and field) $340,000

Estonia: Ragnar Klavan (Football) $2,006,000

Ethiopia: Tilahun Regassa (Track and field) $318,250

Faroe Islands: Christian Holst (Football) $1,630,000

Fiji: Vijay Singh (Golf) $1,334,262

Finland: Kimi Raikkonen (Motorsports) $26,333,333

France: Franck Ribery (Football) $14,100,000

French GuianaL: Florent Malouda (Football) $3,441,823

Gabon: Daniel Cousin (Football) $645,000

Gambia: Ousman Jallow (Football) $314,000

Georgia: Zaza Pachulia (Basketball) $4,251,250

Germany: Dirk Nowitzki (Basketball) $17,278,618

Ghana: Michael Essien (Football) $5,500,000

Greece: Theodoros Papaloukas (Basketball) $4,400,000

Greenland: Jesper Gronkjaer (Football) $923,440

Guadeloupe: Mickael Pietrus (Basketball) $5,300,000

Guatemala: Carlos Ruiz (Football) $306,670

Guinea: Ibrahima Yattara (Football) $717,000

Guinea-Bissau: Almami Moreira (Football) $573,000

Haiti: Samuel Dalembert (Basketball) $12,200,000

Honduras: David Suazo (Football) $5,716,476

Hungary: Zoltan Gera (Football) $2,970,000

Iceland: Eidur Gudjohnsen (Football) $2,538,000

India: Ms Dhoni (Cricket) $1,800,000

Indonesia: Bambang Pamungkas (Football) $160,000

Iran: Hamed Haddadi (Basketball) $1,600,000

Iraq: Nashat Akram (Football) $900,000

Ireland: John O'Shea (Football) $6,800,000

Israel: Yossi Benayoun (Football) $6,859,267

Italy: Valentino Rossi (Motorcycling) $20,800,000

Jamaica: Ricardo Gardner (Football) $2,613,074

Japan: Ichiro Suzuki (Baseball) $18,000,000

Jordan: Odai Al-Saify (Football) $145,000

Kazakhstan: Nik Antropov (Ice hockey) $3,750,000

Kenya: McDonald Mariga (Football) $1,300,000

Kuwait: Bader Al-Mutwa (Football) $400,000

Kyrgyzstan: Mirlan Murzaev (Football) $150,000

Latvia: Andris Biedrins (Basketball) $9,000,000

Lebanon: Youssef Mohamad (Football) $1,074,839

Lesotho: Lehlohonolo Seema (Football) $34,300

Liberia: Sekou Oliseh (Football) $573,000

Libya: Tariq El Taib (Football) $1,130,000

Liechtenstein: Martin Stocklasa (Football) $978,800

Lithuania: Linas Kleiza (Basketball) $4,995,000

Luxembourg: Andy Schleck road bicycle racing $2,700,000

Macedonia: Goran Pandev (Football) $4,250,000

Madagascar: Anicet Andrianantenaina (Football) $86,000

Malawi: Tamika Mkandawire (Football) $571,000

Malaysia: Lee Chong Wei (Badminton) $106,000

Mali: Frederic Kanoute (Football) $8,600,000

Malta: Michael Mifsud (Football) $1,142,000

Martinique: Ronny Turiaf (Basketball) $4,000,000

Mauritania: Pascal Gourville (Football) $353,000

Mauritius: Diallo Guidileye (Football) $313,000

Mexico: Jorge De La Rosa (Baseball) $10,000,000

Moldova: Alexandru Epureanu (Football) $1,433,000

Mongolia: Hakuho (Sumo)$400,000

Montenegro: Mirko Vucinic (Football) $6,020,000

Morocco: Marouane Chamakh (Football) $4,247,000

Mozambique: Mate Simao Junior (Football) $516,000

Northern Ireland: Graeme McDowell (Golf) $5,176,586

Namibia: Collin Benjamin (Football) $1,000,000

Nepal: Santosh Sahukhala (Football) $8,430

Netherlands: Nigel De Jong (Football) $10,500,000

New Caledonia: Frederic Piquionne (Football) $2,972,339

New Zealand: Russell Coutts (Yachting) $10,000,000

Nicaragua: Vicente Padilla (Baseball) $2,000,000

Niger: Alhassane Issoufou (Football) $200,000

Nigeria: John Mikel Obi (Football) $5,800,000

Niue: Michael Junior Jackson (Track and field) $5,000

North Korea (Tie): An Yong-Hak (Football) $619,107 Jong Tae-Se (Football) $619,107

Norway: John Carew (Football) $4,500,000

Oman: Ali Al Habsi (Football) $3,000,000

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (Cricket) $136,000

Palestine: Fadi Lafi (Football) $65,000

Panama: Carlos Lee (Baseball) $19,000,000

Papua New Guinea: Nev Costigan rugby league $216,667

Paraguay: Roque Santa Cruz (Football) $7,668,947

Peru: Claudio Pizarro (Football) $5,448,894

Philippines: Manny Pacquiao (Boxing) $32,000,000

Poland: Robert Kubica (Motorsports) $10,657,895

Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo (Football) $19,500,000

Puerto Rico: Carlos Beltran (Baseball) $19,325,436

Qatar: Sebastian Soria Quintana (Football) $391,000

Republic of the Congo: Christopher Samba (Football) $3,000,000

Romania: Cristian Chivu (Football) $5,013,000

Russia: Andrei Kirilenko (Basketball) $17,822,187

Rwanda: Olivier Karekezi (Football) $52,000

Samoa: David Tua (Boxing) $500,000

San Marino: Aldo Simoncini (Football) $172,000

Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Noor (Football) $1,200,000

Scotland: Darren Fletcher (Football) $5,000,000

Senegal: DeSagana Diop (Basketball) $6,478,600

Serbia: Peja Stojakovic (Basketball) $15,602,138

Seychelles: Michael Mancienne (Football) $2,100,000

Sierra Leone: Madieu Williams (American football) $2,974,000

Singapore: Mardan Mamat (Golf) $500,609

Slovakia: Marian Hossa (Ice hockey) $7,900,000

Slovenia: Anze Kopitar (Ice hockey) $6,000,000

Somalia: Abdisalam Ibrahim (Football) $340,000

South Africa: Ernie Els (Golf) $5,347,012

South Korea: Ji-Sung Park (Football) $4,700,000

Spain: Fernando Alonso (Motorsports) $22,736,842

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (Cricket) $1,500,000

Sudan: Luol Deng (Basketball) $11,355,850

Suriname: Clarence Seedorf (Football) $4,000,000

Swaziland: Tony Tsabedze (Football) $212,000

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Football) $12,700,000

Switzerland: Roger Federer (Tennis) $7,698,289

Syria: Sanharib Malki (Football) $400,000

Tahiti: Fabrice Santoro (Tennis) $19,500

Taiwan: Hong-Chih Kuo (Baseball) $2,725,000

Tajikistan: Farkhod Vasiev (Football) $145,000

Tanzania: Hasheem Thabeet (Basketball) $4,793,280

Thailand: Thongchai Jaidee (Golf) $1,400,000

Togo: Emmanuel Adebayor (Football) $11,900,000

Tonga: Chris Kemoeatu (American football) $2,369,000

Trinidad And Tobago: Anthony Herrera (American football) $1,425,000

Tunisia: Karim Haggui (Football) $820,000

Turkey: Hedo Turkoglu (Basketball) $9,800,000

UAE: Ismail Matar (Football) $360,000

Uganda: Mathias Kiwanuka (American football) $1,776,000

Ukraine: Vitali Klitschko (Boxing) $6-8M

Uruguay: Diego Forlan (Football) $7,169,746

U.S. Virgin Islands: Tim Duncan (Basketball) $18,700,000

USA: Alex Rodriguez (Baseball) $32,000,000

Uzbekistan: Maksim Shatskikh (Football) $120,000

Venezuela: Johan Santana (Baseball) $21,644,707

Vietnam: Lee Nguyen (Football) $180,000

Wales: Ryan Giggs (Football) $6,300,000

Zambia: Chris Katongo (Football) $315,300

Zimbabwe Benjani Mwaruwari (Football) $3,405,584

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03052011/58/hamilton-england-best-paid-sports-star.html

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. I'm too lazy to do the math on which sport pay the most

but it looks like baseball been very very good to some people.

[MrCoffee]

2. Tevez makes more than Messi? That's an inequitible f***ing disgrace.

Stupid Man City.

[Blue_Tires]

4. yeah, that list is full of eye-openers...

[Godhumor]

3. Whoo! A Buffalo Sabre made the list (T. Vanek from Austria)

And people think Buffalo is just chicken wings and hockey...

Wait, this probably isn't helping the stereotype.

...

Did I mention we have some lovely architecture?

[MilesColtrane]

5. Endorsement deals not included.

Crikey, that's a lot of cabbage!