Benjamin is Namibia’s top earning sportsman

FORMER Brave Warriors captain Collin Benjamin is the highest earning Namibian sportsman, according to ESPN’s latest The Magazine Money Issue.

Benjamin, who plays for German Second Bundesliga side TSV 1860 München, has spent the vast majority of the last 13 years playing professional football in Germany’s top tier division.The 33 year-old midfielder cum-defender – linked with a lucrative move to the American Major League Soccer at the start of the season – has featured 15 times for 1860 this season.The earnings represents only the base salary from the most recently completed season or calendar year (2011) from each sport, and excludes any other source of compensation.In countries where official salary figures were unavailable, the number was estimated based on information from multiple sources, including leagues, agents, consulates, embassies, sports federations, cultural centers and the UN. Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan and Liberia’s Tamba Hali, who plays American football, are the highest paid sportsmen in Africa, according to the report.However, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi remains world football’s highest earner with earnings of $43.5 million a year from wages, bonuses, sponsorships and endorsements. Here are some ofAfrica’s top sports earners (in US dollars): – Angola: Manucho [soccer] $865 579, Botswana: Mogogi Gabonamong [soccer] $354 000, Cameroon: Samuel Eto’o [soccer] $13 337 000, Democratic Republic of Congo: Bismack Biyombo [basketball] $2 798 040, Democratic Republic of Congo: Christopher Samba [soccer] $8 000 000, Egypt: Mohammed Zidan [soccer] $2 580 000, Egypt: Mohamed Abu Treika [soccer] $2 580 000, Ethiopia: Aselefech Mergia [Distance running] $263 000, Ghana: Asamoah Gyan [soccer] $16 000 000, Ivory Coast: Yaya Toure [soccer] $15 407 800, Liberia: Tamba Hali [American football] $16 000 000,Mali: Frederic Kanoute [soccer] $8 600 000, Namibia: Collin Benjamin [soccer] $900 000, Nigeria: John Mikel Obi [soccer] $4 854 670, South Africa: Steven Pienaar [soccer] $4 200 000, South Sudan: Luol Deng [basketball] $12 341 275, Togo: Emmanuel Adebayor [soccer] $13 325 600, Tunisia: Anis Ben-Hatira [soccer] $1 000 280, Tunisia: Ammar Jemal [soccer] $1 000 280, Uganda: Mathias Kiwanuka [American football] $4 750 000, Zambia: Chris Katongo [soccer] $458 000, Zimbabwe: Nick Price [golf] $1 313 439. – Adapted from kickoff.com.

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