Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi club Al-Nassr, has topped Forbes’ list of the highest-paid athletes for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in his career. The 40-year-old forward earned $275 million.
The top 10 highest-paid athletes collectively earned $1.4 billion over the past year, marking the second consecutive year in which every athlete in the top ten surpassed $100 million in earnings.
Second place in the ranking went to NBA Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry ($156 million), who broke LeBron James’ record for basketball earnings.
Third place was taken by British boxer Tyson Fury ($146 million), who lost twice to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in the past year and announced his retirement once again.
Other athletes in the top 10 include:
- Dak Prescott (American football) – $137 million (NFL record);
- Lionel Messi (football) – $135 million;
- LeBron James (basketball) – $133.8 million (personal record);
- Juan Soto (baseball) – $114 million (MLB record);
- Karim Benzema (football) – $104 million;
- Shohei Ohtani (baseball) – $102.5 million;
- Kevin Durant (basketball) – $101.4 million.
Additionally, Oleksandr Usyk and golfer Jon Rahm earned over $100 million, but did not make the ranking.
According to Forbes’ calculations since 1990, the only athlete to earn more than Ronaldo during their sports career was American boxer Floyd Mayweather, who made $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
