Every year, Forbes magazine ranks the richest athletes, which takes into account professional earnings, prize awards and advertising contracts. In 2019, the palm went to Lionel Messi, who earned 127 million in one year. Ronaldo followed with 109 million revenues and Neymar with 105 million.
The captain of the national team of Argentina and Barcelona has the highest salary among football players. The Catalan club pays Messi 42 million dollars a year, in total with image and prize payments he receives 92 million. In addition, Messi has contracts with Adidas, MasterCard and PepsiCo. In the past, Messi had a trial with the Spanish tax service, after which Barcelona had pledged to pay off the player’s debts and pay his taxes. Such a gesture from the club has significantly saved the cost of a football player.
Cristiano Ronaldo has repeatedly headed the list of the highest paid athletes. In recent years, he began to give first place to his sworn rival Lionel Messi. The main income is advertising contracts and business activities. Cristiano Ronaldo has his own line of clothing and underwear, hotels in New York, Madrid, Lisbon and on the native island of Madeira. Recently opened cosmetology clinic in Spain. He gave this clinic to his bride, Georgina Rodriguez. Brand CR7 brings a separate income. In addition, Ronaldo has a lifetime contract with Nike, the amount of the transaction amounted to more than $ 1 billion.
After moving from Barcelona to PSG, Neymar’s annual income increased significantly. His salary in the Paris club is 38 million dollars. In total, with prize and image payments, it reaches 75 million. The Instagram player has 120 million subscribers, and one advertising post in it costs almost 500 thousand dollars.
For the first time, only footballers entered the top 3 richest sportsmen according to Forbes. Last year, boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned the lion’s share of his fees after winning a victory over Conor McGregor, won first place. Tennis player Serena Williams with $ 29.5 million in revenue was the only woman who entered the Forbes list. She earned on advertising contracts five times more than on a tennis court.
The rating from Forbes includes representatives of basketball, football, tennis, boxing and Formula 1 racing.
By author Ajar Sultanalieva