Serie A Clubs Will Spend More Than $1B On Player Wages

The Gazetta dello Sport reported the the clubs of Italian's top football league, Serie A, will spend "a combined €1.04B ($1.1B) on player wages in the '12-13 season," according to the DPA. On top of the list sits AC Milan, which has a player payroll of €120M ($192.8M), followed by defending champion Juventus FC (€115M/$184.8M), Inter Milan (€100M/$160.7M), AS Roma (€95M/$152.7M) and Lazio (€66.2M/106.4M). The "highest-paid players" are Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus FC), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma) and Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan) who each net €6M ($9.6M) annually. The club with the lowest payroll of €10M ($16.1M) is "newly promoted Pescara." Last season, Serie A clubs "spent even more on player wages, a combined total of €1.1M." The drop in player payroll "is mainly caused" by both Milan clubs, AC and Inter, which reduced their payrolls by €60M ($96.4M) and €40M ($64.3M), respectively (DPA, 9/11).