(Football news) The words Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are firmly associated with decades of dominance in world football, a bucket load of goals and many Ballon d’Or awards. With the number of records each of these footballers have broken, their achievements both individually and collectively with the team, it’s no wonder that both of them have also been the highest paid athletes in their respective sports for a very long time.
With both these iconic legends moving away from their clubs this summer, as Cristiano Ronaldo rejoined Manchester United and Lionel Messi shocked the sporting world by moving to Paris Saint-Germain from his boyhood club Barcelona, their new deals have also changed the dynamics of who is paid more. According to a report by Forbes, Ronaldo is now the highest paid footballer in the world, earning $125 million before taxes in the 2021/2022 season. Ofcourse, being the world’s most popular athlete with a combined number of followers amounting to nearly half a billion across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter helps, with commercial deals with Nike, Herbalife, Clear and the CR7 brand amounting to nearly $50 million of his revenue.
Only three other active athletes, namely Roger Federer ($90 million), LeBron James ($65 million) and Tiger Woods ($60 million) earn more than the Portuguese superstar commercially. However, Cristiano’s longtime rival Lionel Messi earns about $110 million, nearly $15 million less than the current Manchester United player. This is because Messi’s endorsements with Adidas, Pepsi, watchmaker Jacobs & Co. and Budweiser earn him $35 million, significantly lower than Ronaldo. Paris Saint-Germain currently employs three of the top five earners in world football with Neymar in the third position with an estimated value of $95 million and Kylian Mbappe in the fourth position with $43 million.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the top 10 highest paid footballers will earn an estimated $585 million before tax, about $15 million more than last year with salaries and bonuses amounting to nearly $415 million of the total. These figures are despite the report by Europe’s governing body UEFA, which claimed top flight clubs endured an $8.5 million pandemic related revenue loss.
