Abu Dhabi-owned Man City the highest paid sports team in the world

Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City have the highest average salary in world sports with their first team squad taking in an average wage of £102,653-a-week.

City top the charts for the second successive year ahead of Major League Baseball teams The New York Yankees and LA Dodgers, with Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona rounding off the top five.

The salary information was compiled by the Sporting Intelligence website in association with ESPN The Magazine.

City are one of FIVE Premier League sides to make the top 20, with Manchester United eighth on £4.3m per man per year, Champions League semi-finalists Chelsea 10th (nearly £4m) and Arsenal 11th (£3.9m).

Liverpool - four wins away from their first league title in 24 years - are in 20th, earning an average of £3.4m per man per year.

Interestingly, the NFL, which operates a strict salary cap, has no team in the top 100. The first NFL side on the list is the Minnesota Vikings, whose players earned an average salary of £26,418 in 2013.

Highest spenders in football City are among a number of clubs, including Paris St Germain, that are having their cases considered this week by UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) which will decide if they have committed breaches of the break-even rules.

The possible sanctions will be announced in early May and range from a warning to a fine, up to a salary cap for a club's European squad or even being barred from next season's Champions League. UEFA has confirmed that it cannot impose transfer embargoes.

City, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have had no indication from UEFA about any possible action and senior sources at the club insist they are comfortable with their position.

The CFCB's investigatory chamber, headed by former Belgium prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, concluded its meeting on Wednesday and those clubs judged to have committed serious breaches of FFP rules will be referred to the CFCB's adjudicatory panel for a final verdict, with UEFA to announce details of all sanctions around May 5.

City, who have lost £149 million in the past two seasons, and PSG are among the 76 clubs under investigation.

The CFCB panel will have four options open to them: to dismiss the case; to agree a settlement with the club effectively putting them on probation; to issue a reprimand and fine of up to 100,000 euros; or in serious cases to refer the club to the adjudicatory chamber.

Clubs, who can appeal against any decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, are permitted to lose up to 45 million euro (£37m) over the last two years under UEFA's rules.

City made losses of £97.9 million in 2012 and £51.6 million last year but can write off sums spent on facilities, youth development and a number of other items.

Original post by Yahoo Eurosport