With 25 million euros ($32.17 million) a year, England captain Beckham tops the table ahead of Real Madrid team mates Ronaldo, who earns 19.6 million euros a year, and Zinedine Zidane, on 13 million.
The three each have salaries of 6.4 million euros and collect 200,000 euros a year in bonuses.
But the 30-year-old Beckham earns an additional 18.4 million euros in advertising contracts, with Ronaldo receiving 13 million for his commercial deals and Zidane earning 6.4 million for his.
Inter Milan striker Christian Vieri is fourth in the standings, earning 12 million euros a year, followed by Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero on 9.5 million and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard on 9.4 million.
Jose Mourinho, manager of English Premier League champions Chelsea, clearly benefits from owner Roman Abramovich's big spending policy, earning 7.5 million euros a year.
Five managers working in England are in the top 10 with Manchester United's Alex Ferguson coming second with six million euros a year, ahead of England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (5.8 million) and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger (4.4 million).
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is ninth with 2.6 million a year.
However, Beckham is far behind golf's world number one Tiger Woods, who earns 66 million euros a year. Seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is the second highest paid sportsman with 63.5 million euros.
Beckham is sixth behind Woods, Schumacher, NFL's Archie Manning and NBA's Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan.
