Stamford Bridge club pays more than Eastlands but trails the Nou Camp and Bernabeu giants.
Chelsea pay the highest wages in the Premier League but are still dwarfed by the salaries at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The West London club pay on average £71,000 per week for a first-team star according to The Global Sports Salaries Survey 2011.
The figure is inflated by the six-figure sums paid to John Terry, Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres.
But their wage bill still falls more than £20,000 short of what Barcelona, who top the list, pay their stars such as Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.
Real Madrid are second on the list, followed by the New York Yankees (baseball), the LA Lakers and the Orlando Magic (both basketball).
Chelsea are in sixth position and the only other Premier league club in the top 10 are Manchester City, who pay £69,000 per week.
Manchester United are only 16th on the list, paying an average of £60,000-per-week to stars like Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs.
Liverpool and Arsenal do not even make the top 20, with the Anfield club paying £57,000 a week in 20th wile the Gunners pay £55,000 in 22nd.
Inter Milan and AC Milan are seventh and 14th respectively in the list, while Bayern Munich are in 12th.