African football stars playing in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) top the list of the highest-paid players participating in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which is currently taking place in Morocco.
The tournament, which is a major football event on the African continent, features a constellation of the brightest stars upon whom African national teams have high expectations to shine and achieve first-place finishes.
14 Players
Fourteen players from the Saudi Pro League are participating in the major African football tournament in Morocco, the 35th in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations finals, which kicked off on December 21, 2025, and will run until January 18, 2026.
According to comprehensive data provided by “Capology,” a global specialist in football player salary and contract data, Saudi League stars occupy the top three positions in the list of the highest-paid players in the tournament, surpassing Egyptian star Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain.
Mahrez in the Lead
Algerian Riyad Mahrez, a player for Al-Ahli, tops the list with a massive weekly salary of 1,015,000 Euros. Senegalese Sadio Mane ranked second with a salary estimated at 778,000 Euros per week, followed by his compatriot Kalidou Koulibaly, the Al-Hilal player, who earns a staggering 675,000 Euros per week, making him the third highest-paid among African stars and the highest-paid defender in the world.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Mohamed Salah of Liverpool ranked fourth with a salary estimated at 458,000 Euros per week, followed by Nigerian Victor Osimhen in fifth place with a salary of 364,000 Euros per week, and Moroccan Achraf Hakimi in sixth place with a salary of 265,000 Euros per week. In seventh place was Senegalese Edouard Mendy, the Al-Ahli goalkeeper, with a weekly salary of 233,000 Euros, making him one of the highest-paid African goalkeepers in the tournament, earning slightly more than Al-Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
United News Network – UNN Arabic
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