Brazilian star Kaka retired at the end of last season, so Major League Soccer has a new highest-paid player _ Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC.
The Italian forward makes a base salary of $6.5 million and total compensation of $7.16 million, according to the salaries released Thursday by the MLS Players Association.
Kaka, who played for Orlando City, made $6.6 million base salary and $7.2 million total.
Toronto also boasts the league's second-highest-paid player, U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley. He makes $6 million base salary and $6.5 million total compensation.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Los Angeles FC's Carlos Vela ($6,292,500 total), Chicago's Bastian Schweinsteiger ($6.1 million) and the LA Galaxy's Giovani dos Santos ($6 million), NYCFC's David Villa ($5.6 million), Toronto's Jozy Altidore ($5 million), Montreal's Ignacio Piatti ($4.7 million), Colorado's Tim Howard ($2.47 million), and Portland's Diego Valeri ($2.38 million).
Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the world's best-known players, makes $1.5 million.
Overall, MLS has 46 players making $1 million or more. Last year, the league had 28 millionaires, and the year before 23.
Rooney to MLS?: Could Wayne Rooney become MLS' next highest-paid player? The BBC and Sky News reported that Rooney, the 32-year-old Everton midfielder, has reached an agreement to transfer to D.C. United. A source told The Washington Post that the chances of D.C. United getting Rooney were "50-50" and that reports of an agreement were premature.
D.C. would pay Rooney between $5 million and $8 million per season, according to The Washington Post. Rooney makes $10 million a year with Everton. He is Manchester United's career scoring leader, and the English national team's most prolific scorer, but has scored only 10 goals for Everton this season. Thirteen English Premier League players have scored more, led by Liverpool's Mo Salah with 31.
Soccer Leaders in Miami: Many world soccer executives will converge at the W Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla., May 15-16 for the SPORTEL Summit, a conference and networking event where global sports decision makers and marketing experts exchange ideas on the future of the industry.
Among the panels are one on the 2026 World Cup bid, which features John Kristick, the executive director of the United Bid (joint bid by USA, Mexico, Canada); Sandra Gage (chief marketing officer of Canada Soccer) and Yon de Luisa (Mexico bid director). There will also be a panel on the state of U.S. Soccer, including Miami FC owner Riccardo Silva, NBC analyst Kyle Martino and CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio.
The attendee list includes representatives of the Bundesliga, English Premier League, CONCACAF, ESPN, BeInSport, Israeli Football League, Miami Dolphins, Relevent Sports, NASL and the PGA.
CONCACAF U17 Championship moved to Bradenton: The CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championship, which began in Managua, Nicaragua, last month but was suspended because of safety concerns, will resume at the IMG Academy in Brandenton on June 6-12.
Nine matches are left to be played. The USA is atop Group B after beating Costa Rica 4-0 on April 20. The U.S. team will play Bermuda on June 6 and Canada on June 8. Puerto Rico and Nicaragua were already eliminated after the first three days of the tournament. Haiti and Mexico will compete for that group's top spot. Three teams advance to the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Uruguay.
UM player invited to U23 camp: Phallon Tullis-Joyce, a rising redshirt senior goalkeeper at the University of Miami, was called in to the U.S. Under-23 national training camp in Carson, California, May 11-18.
"We're excited for Phallon to compete with the U-23 National Team," said newly hired UM coach Sarah Barnes. "She has worked incredibly hard and devoted herself to improving her play for an opportunity at this level."
Tullis-Joyce, of Shoreham, N.Y., has played in 44 matches as a Hurricane over the past three years, and started 36. She has a 1.18 goals against average and set a program record with a 0.84 mark in 2016. Tullis-Joyce finished second in the ACC in 2017 with 5.25 saves per game and ranks top-five all-time at Miami in shutouts.
