With 260 million USD, Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list of highest-paid athletes of the year according to Forbes magazine, twice as much as Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo became the world’s highest-paid athlete after moving to Al Nassr of the Saudi Pro League. According to Forbes on May 16, the Portuguese striker earned about $260 million in the past 12 months – a record for a football player.
The 39-year-old star has a fixed salary of 200 million USD and pocketed an additional 60 million USD thanks to sponsorship contracts, including advertising for many brands on Instagram with more than 600 million followers. Ronaldo has a contract with Al Nassr until 2025 and affirms that he wants to continue playing at the top level.
Ronaldo on Al Nassr’s training ground on May 16. Photo: Al Nassr
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Meanwhile, Messi ranked third on the list, earning $135 million after his move to Inter Miami in the US Major League Soccer (MLS). This figure includes $65 million in base salary and $70 million from contracts with major sponsors such as Adidas and Apple.
Interspersed between these two football stars is Jon Rahm – a golfer who switched to competing in the tournament system owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), despite being an A-list star of the PGA Tour. The Spanish player is expected to receive an offer worth about 300 million to 500 million euros (nearly 550 million USD) on a four-year contract.
According to Forbes , Rahm received $218 million in the past 12 months and, along with Ronaldo, is the only two athletes to earn more than $200 million.
The remaining two names in the top 5 are all basketball stars, including LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers with 128.2 million USD and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks with 111 million USD.
French football team captain Kylian Mbappe dropped to sixth with $110 million. His former teammate Neymar – the Brazilian striker who joined Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League – is next with 108 million USD. The remaining names in the top 10 are soccer striker Karim Benzema ($106 million), NBA star Steph Curry Steph Curry and NFL player Lamar Jackson ($100.5 million).
In total, the 50 highest-paid athletes in the world have earned about 3.88 billion USD in the past 12 months. This figure does not include taxes or agency fees, and is an increase of 13% compared to last year’s record of 3.44 billion USD.
