One Spike, Big Money: What the World’s Top Female Volleyball Players Earn in 2026

Zhu Ting of China is the highest-paid female volleyball player of 2026, earning roughly USD 1.6 million a year. Paola Egonu, Gabi Guimarães, Kim Yeon-koung and Tijana Bošković complete the top five. These figures estimate total earnings — club salary, national-team pay, sponsorships and prize money — and Turkey’s Sultanlar Ligi remains the highest-paying league in the world.

The five highest-paid female volleyball players of 2026

Annual earnings and current clubs for the sport’s top earners:

• Zhu Ting — China / Imoco Volley Conegliano
  Has held the record for the sport’s highest-paid player since the age of 22

• Earnings: about USD 1.6 million a year

• Paola Egonu — Italy / Imoco Volley Conegliano
  Widely regarded as the most marketable athlete in the sport

• Earnings: about USD 1.5 million a year

• Gabi Guimarães — Brazil / VakifBank Istanbul
  Brazil’s national-team captain, and a top-tier outside hitter at 181 cm

• Earnings: about USD 1.3 million a year

• Kim Yeon-koung — South Korea
  Has signed top-tier contracts in Turkey, Japan, China and at home

• Peak earnings: about USD 1.2 million a year

• Tijana Bošković — Serbia
  A left-handed hitter with power few in the game can match

• Earnings: about USD 1.1 million a year

Figures are total-earnings estimates based on VolleyCountry’s 2026 ranking and shift with each new contract.

Which league pays female volleyball players the most?

Turkey’s Sultanlar Ligi pays the highest wages in women’s volleyball, which is why clubs such as VakifBank Istanbul keep drawing the sport’s biggest names.

Money is not the only pull. Italy is the league that turns hitters into fashion faces, and Paola Egonu turned down a Turkish offer of roughly EUR 1.5–2 million to stay at home.

Why volleyball players cross over into luxury fashion

Volleyball players compete without helmets or masks, so audiences learn faces and personalities in a way they cannot in many other sports. Combined with very large followings across Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia, that makes the athletes worth more to fashion houses than their on-court results alone suggest.

Egonu’s deal with Emporio Armani is the clearest case. It explains why top earnings are not built on club salary alone: the sponsorship and brand work that follows grows faster than the contract does.

What does Thailand’s highest-paid player earn?

Chatchu-on Moksri is the highest-paid Thai volleyball player in the country’s history after extending with Victorina Himeji in Japan’s SV.League for the 2025/26 season, with reported earnings above THB 7 million.

Set against roughly THB 53 million at the top of the world list, the gap is still wide, but it marks a new ceiling for Thai women’s volleyball and a sign that Japanese clubs are now paying to secure international national-team players.

Female volleyball earnings FAQ

Who is the highest-paid female volleyball player?

Zhu Ting of China, at about USD 1.6 million a year in the 2026 ranking.

What do these earnings figures include?

Club salary, national-team pay, sponsorship income and prize money — not club wages alone.

Which league pays the most?

Turkey’s Sultanlar Ligi. Italy pays less but offers more brand and sponsorship opportunity.

Who is Thailand’s highest earner?

Chatchu-on Moksri at Victorina Himeji in Japan’s SV.League, with reported earnings above THB 7 million.

The short version

The sport’s top earners sit between USD 1.1 million and USD 1.6 million a year. The largest cheques are still written in Turkey, but the fashion-scale fame is made in Italy. In Thailand the ceiling has just been pushed to the THB 7 million mark, and the gap is closing.

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