After leaving Manchester United on a two-and-a-half-year contract with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has become the highest-paid player in the world, according to the latest Forbes ranking. The 38-year-old earned a total of $136m over the past 12 months, having amassed $46m for his work on the field, and $90m off the field, between May 1, 2022 and May 1, 2023.
This year, 8 sports professionals reached the $100 million club, where the two legends come: Argentine Lionel Messi, who earned $130 million last year, followed by Frenchman Kylian Mbappe with $120 million in second and third places.
In the world of sports, the order is very different between income from the field and income from off-field activities. For example, American golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson earned the highest salaries from field shows, thanks in part to both earning large entry fees for the Saudi-backed “LIV” golf series, but they ranked sixth and last.
Ronaldo returned to the list by far with the highest off-court salary package at $90 million, from business, licensing and advertising revenue, followed by NBA star LeBron James who earned $75 million.
In ninth place is Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer, who, despite retiring in September last year, has made $0.1 million on the court and $95 million off it. He is followed by American basketball star Kevin Durant, who earned $89.1 million in total.
No woman made it to this year’s list, while in the latest edition of Forbes’ highest-paid female athletes (usually published in December), Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka took the top spot, with an income of $51.1 million — which isn’t even half the annual amount. for ronaldo.
The highest paid athletes
