#5 Nicolas Anelka - $845k - more than Steve Smith, Dwayne Bravo
The French striker was around ISL circles for two seasons and was on the books of Mumbai City FC on a big-money contract. Anelka's $845k salary in ISL 2014 dropped considerably in the next season, but that opening season wage is higher than what the likes of Steve Smith and Dwayne Bravo pocketed during IPL 2017. Smith and Bravo's similar $666k wages in IPL 2017 is comfortably dwarfed by an ISL footballer, an impossible prospect as recently as a decade ago.
Edited by Abhijit Bharali