IT is the ultimate battle of soccer's haves and have nots of a European giant with a wages bankroll of nearly $200 million against an A-League club operating within the constraints of a $2.5 million salary cap.

And funnily enough it is the haves, Liverpool, which will be fielding a near full-strength team at the MCG on Wednesday night while the have nots, Melbourne Victory, will be grossly undermanned.

Ange Postecoglou's men have been pillaged by the Socceroos, currently in South Korea for the East Asian Cup, ruling out some of the club's best players, Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan and Mitch Nichols.

Other key players, Adama Traore and Gui Finkler, remain sidelined by long-term injuries.

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That means Victory is likely to field a side with only four players over the age of 22 - Adrian Leijer, Billy Celeski, Nathan Coe and Leigh Broxham - while Liverpool sends out international superstars Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger and Kolo Toure.

The gulf in experience in experience between the opposing players is staggering - the gulf in pay cheques even more so.

Victory captain Leijer and goalkeeper Coe are unlikely to be on much, if anything, more than $150,000 a season, while Celeski and Broxham are the only others who will play for Victory this week earning anywhere near $100,000 annually.

The likes of Gerrard and Suarez would earn that sort of coin in less than a week.

Clearly A-League clubs will never pay anywhere near that amount of money for its players.

Currently only two "marquee players" per club can be paid outside the salary cap.

Sydney FC star Alessandro Del Piero, the league's highest paid player ever, earned roughly $2 million last season.

Most other marquees take home way less than $1 million a year.

But the salary cap, even though it is a rarity in other leagues around the world and limits players' earning capacity, is an important factor in the sport's sustainability in this country.

Professional Footballers Australia co-founder Brendan Schwab said the cap is of benefit to both clubs and players.

"Essentially we've agreed to a salary cap because the terms ensure that the players get more than a fair share of game revenue by Australian standards," Schwab said.

"It promotes competitive balance and it assists every team in every market in succeeding both on and off the field.

"And if we achieve those things then we build the overall wealth of the game for the benefit of every stakeholder including the players.

"Our league cannot maximise its overall wealth if teams in key markets such as Brisbane and Perth for example are uncompetitive and therefore don't deliver the audiences we need in those markets - both in terms of spectators and television.

"So it's a wealth creation and sharing strategy, it's not just about controlling spending."

The competitive balance Schwab speaks of is evidenced by A-League's record of having five different champions throughout its eight seasons.

A new Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed by the PFA and Football Federation Australia this month which sees the current $2.478 million cap lifted to $2.5m for the 2013-14 season and $2.55m in 2014-15.

The minimum wage was also boosted from $48,000 to $50,000.

PRINCES AND PAUPERS

According to recent financial reports, Liverpool spent about $190 million Australian dollars on salaries in the 2011-12 season.

Apart from marquees Archie Thompson and the recently departed Marcos Flores, each of Melbourne Victory's players were paid inside the $2.478 million salary cap for the 2012-13 season.

ANNUAL INCOMES (AUD)

LIVERPOOL

$12.9 million: Steven Gerrard

$10.9-12m: Luis Suarez

$8.9-8m: Glen Johnson

$6.9-6m: Kolo Toure, Daniel Agger, Stewart Downing

$5.9-5m: Jose Enrique, Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva, Martin Skrtel

$4.9-4m: Jay Spearing, Fabio Borini

$3.9-3m: Simon Mignolet, Joe Allen

$2.9-2m: Iago Aspas, Sebastian Coates

$1.9-1m: Oussama Assaidi, Martin Kelly

$999-500 thousand: Brad Jones, Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Pacheco, Raheem Sterling, Joe Flanagan, Andre Wisdom, Jack Robinson

Unknown: Luis Alberto, Jordon Ibe

VICTORY

$175-125 thousand: Adrian Leijer, Nathan Coe

$124-75k: Billy Celeski, Leigh Broxham

$74-60k: Nick Ansell, Andrew Nabbout, Francesco Stella

Less than $60k: Lawrence Thomas, Scott Galloway, Connor Pain, Jason Geria, Jimmy Jeggo, Jesse Makarounas, Luc Jeggo, Luke Radonich, John Buceto, Christopher Cristaldo, Dylan Murnane, Jordan Brown

* Salary figures are approximates. Only available squad members are included.

TALE OF THE TAPE

LIVERPOOL

Combined international caps (for available squad members): 479 (most: Gerrard 102, Suarez 62, Agger 56)

Club games: 4284 (most: Gerrard 394, Downing 348, Toure 344)

Silverware: 5 x UEFA Champions League; 18 x English Premier League/English first division; 7 x FA Cup; 8 x League Cup; 3 x Europa League

Annual turnover: $280m (2011-12 season)

VICTORY

Combined international caps (for available squad members): 6 (most: Coe 3, Leijer/Broxham/Celeski 1)

Club games: 570 (most: Leijer 154, Broxham 117, Coe 101)

Silverware: 2 x A-League championships

Annual turnover: $13m (2011-12 season)

Originally published as Battle of the princes and paupers