Jeonbuk forward Kim Shin-wook top paid K League footballer for 2016

Jeonbuk Hyundai forward Kim Shin-wook, right, celebrates his goal with midfielder Lee Jae-sung, left, during the Club World Cup football fifth place match between South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai at Suita City stadium in Osaka on Dec. 14. / AFP-Yonhap

Jeonbuk topped payroll list with 14.6 bln won

By Baek Byung-yeul

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors towering striker Kim Shin-wook was the highest paid domestic player in the K League this season, the governing body of the professional football league announced Thursday.

The K League released a list of players’ salaries, which includes performance clauses, incentives and real salaries, of the K League Classic, the top flight Korean football organization, and of the second-tier K League Challenge.

The total calculated payroll of players in the 11 K League Classic teams for the 2016 season amounted to 67.61 billion won ($56.38 million), comprised of 41.25 billion won for domestic players and 13.24 billion won for international players. The average salary of K League Classic players this season was 176.553 million won ($147,000).

Jeonbuk’s 196-centimeter-tall striker Kim received 1.468 billion won ($1.22 million). He was followed by his teammates Kim Bo-kyung (1.008 billion won) and Lee Dong-gook (867.2 million won), Jeju United’s Lee Keun-ho (861.9 million won) and Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ Yeom Ki-hun (737.5 million won).

The average salary of domestic players in the K League Classic this season was 119.218 million won while international players averaged 357.843 million won for the season.

For international players, Jeonbuk’s Brazilian attacker Leonardo Rodrigues Pereira was the highest paid player with an annual salary of 1.7 billion won ($1.42 million). The FC Seoul veteran striker Dejan Damjanovic was ranked second with 1.4 billion won and Jeonbuk’s Eduardo Goncalves de Oliveira was third with 1.01 billion won. The Jeonbuk winger Ricardo Lopes and Suwon’s Santos were fourth and fifth with 896 million won and 851 million won.

The total team salary showed that spending more money on players can guarantee a club higher returns.

Jeonbuk, which grabbed this year’s Asian club championship title, paid the highest salary of 14.62 billion won ($12.19 million); FC Seoul, which clinched their first K League Classic title since 2012, spent the second most at 8.88 billion won; and Suwon, which won the FA Cup title over their rival Seoul, was third at 7.61 billion won. Ulsan Hyundai FC, fourth in league standings, ranked fourth in salary at 7.06 billion won.

In the K League Challenge, Busan IPark spent the most at 3.51 billion won, followed by Daegu FC (3.26 billion won), Gangwon High 1 FC (2.23 billion won), Seoul E-Land FC (2.13 billion won) and Daejeon Citizen FC (2.12 billion won).