A list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the sport last year has been revealed, with Cristiano Ronaldo topping the leaderboard.
It will be no surprise to see the Al-Nassr striker and former Man United superstar top the charts in terms of earnings, given his eye-watering £175m-a-year deal with the Saudi Arabian team, plus his many other lucrative sponsorship activities.
According to the new list of SporticoRonaldo raked in £218 million ($275 million), including £47 million from endorsements from the likes of Nike, Herbalife, Armani, Tag Heuer, DAZN and PokerStars, not to mention his own CR7 brand.
Ronaldo was already one of the highest paid athletes in the world before moving to Saudi Arabia and his staggering salary in the Middle East has kept his place at the top of the tree.
The Portuguese forward has been battling for supremacy with Lionel Messi for much of his career, and while he may not have won as many Ballon d’Or titles as the Argentine, he can certainly have greater wealth.
Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed the title of the world’s highest-earning athlete after a new list of the highest-paid sports stars was revealed
Ronaldo will earn around £175m a year at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr after moving to the Middle East in 2022
The World Cup winner, now at MLS side Inter Miami, is not even number two behind Ronaldo in the table. That spot belongs to LIV Golf rebel John Rahm.
The Spaniard earned £144 million ($181 million) last year after winning the 2023 Masters before making the shock move to controversial Saudi-funded league group LIV Golf, which reportedly paid him around £400 million .
Messi instead came third, after having much lower earnings than Ronaldo and Rahm (£52 million), but instead earned more in endorsements, earning him around the same amount.
Last year he took home a total of £100 million as he and Ronaldo formed a group of four footballers in the top ten.
The other two were Kylian Mbappe, the PSG superstar likely to join Real Madrid this summer, and Neymar, both former teammates of Messi in Paris.
Mbappe collected around £80 million in revenue, combined with £20 million from sponsorship deals and endorsements.
LIV Golf defector Jon Rahm – who won the Masters last year – comes in at number 2, ahead of World Cup winner Lionel Messi
Kylian Mbappe was among the four footballers in the top ten of the list
Neymar, on the other hand, earned more from his partnerships (around £28 million) but less from his total earnings – which came to around £68 million.
But just above both players in fourth place was Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James, who received around £36 million from his earnings, but his sponsorship deals set him apart from the rest of his rivals.
The NBA star boasts the highest amount of money collected from endorsements of anyone on the entire list, with £64 million coming from his out-of-court deals, bringing his total collection to £99 million.
While football players dominated the top ten, so did James’ fellow NBA players.
Max Verstappen was the highest paid Formula 1 star, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, taking home around £60 million
Golf star Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were also on the list below Rahm
Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry came in at number 7 last year with a total of £78m, followed by Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (£70m) and Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant (£68m).
Rounding out the top ten was Kansas City Chiefs NFL star Patrick Mahomes, who earned around £67 million.
Many fans will wonder which other sports stars made the top 100 – and which stars were the top in their respective sports.
The number one earner for Formula 1 was Max Verstappen. He earned £56 million in revenue and just £4 million in sponsorship money, fending off rival Lewis Hamilton, who earned a total of £49 million.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (L) and Erling Haaland were the other Premier League names to make the top 100
Meanwhile, the highest-paid star in the boxing world was Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican fighter is regarded as the sport’s pound-for-pound king and one of the best boxers around, and that is reflected in his earnings of £48 million – plus out-of-ring deals that take his total to £ 52 million.
Behind him in boxing were Anthony Joshua (£44m) and Tyson Fury (£32m).
The highest-paid tennis player was Novak Djokovic – who was much lower on the list at number 46 – after earning a total of £36 million last year.
Elsewhere, there were a handful of Premier League footballers spread across the list of 100 athletes.
At number 18 was Man City striker Erling Haaland, who earned around £50 million in total, while Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah clocked in at 23 with £44 million.