Found this radio transcript on it yesterday from ABC AM Radio
Ballack joins Chelsea on peak salary PRINT FRIENDLY EMAIL STORY
AM - Tuesday, 16 May , 2006 08:28:00
Reporter: Rafael Epstein
TONY EASTLEY: There's no weakness in the market for top footballers.
An impoverished young boy who once dreamt of playing footy for his local side in the former East Germany has just signed a deal with reigning English champions, Chelsea, which is thought to be the highest club salary paid in history.
German captain Michael Ballack will get a weekly pay packet of $AU 320,000.
Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein reports.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: As a young boy Michael Ballack earned money collecting waste paper and bottles in the town called KarlMarxStadt in East Germany.
Now he's the man with football's best salary, based on club earnings. And that doesn't include his endorsements from Sony, McDonalds and Adidas.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Good play by Schneider. Schweinsteiger to Ballack. Oh, what a strike!
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Ballack has won Germany's most valued player award three times in four years, but he's reviled by some in Germany, in part because of his East German origins. And even though he's figured in the success of his team, Bayern Munich, he's seen as simply greedy.
His old team's CEO says Ballack didn't want to learn a new language or new culture, but a new currency.
And he'll be earning more from his club than global superstars like David Beckham at Real Madrid and Brazil's Ronaldinho at Barcelona.
Michael Ballack says past German greats simply told him Chelsea was the place to be.
MICHAEL BALLACK: I ask some players about England, English football in (inaudible), and (inaudible), and they tell me yes, good things about this country and, yes, I'm happy to be here.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Wages like Ballack's mean Chelsea's star-chocked salary bill has brought them a $345 million loss in the last financial year, the biggest ever in British football.
But it will all be covered by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, who himself was raised in the tough environs of the Arctic Circle, and is now one of the world's 50 richest people.
Abramovich made his money with inside deals on oil and resource companies in the Yeltsin era, even earning the moniker "the Yeltsin family cashier," as a privileged few benefited from the old Soviet Empire's rapid privatisation. And that money has now turned English football on its head.
So, how will Jose Mourinho, Chelsea's coach, cope with such a star-studded line-up?
JOSE MOURINHO: The next step is we have already the team, we need two or three special players to join a special team we have to make it even better.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Stars like Michael Ballack want to sign before the World Cup frenzy kicks off, with massive sponsorship deals fuelled by record-setting TV audiences.
Ballack is the man whose goal helped put Germany into the last World Cup final, when Germany lost to Brazil. It was the most watched match in history, with an audience of 1.1 billion people.
This is Rafael Epstein in London reporting for AM.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1639293.htm
Anyone know how much they'd recieve in sponsorship payments?
