Sport is not experiencing a crisis, and the income of the biggest athletes has exploded in recent years. A year ago, Cristiano Ronaldo earned $136 million. This season, by joining the Saudi championship, he almost doubled his income with 260 million dollars, including 200 million paid by his club! The Portuguese footballer is number 1 in the annual Top 50 highest paid athletes published by the magazine Forbes.
He is followed by golfer Jon Rahm (218 million), Lionel Messi (135 million) and LeBron James (128.2 million, including 80 million linked to his sponsors). The four-time NBA champion is the number 1 basketball player, and among NBA players, he is ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo (111 million) and Stephen Curry (102 million).
In total, the NBA places 19 players in this Top 50, and it is the most represented sport. We also note that there are no women in this Top 50, and that France places two representatives: Kylian Mbappé, 6th with 110 million dollars, including 90 million in salary, and Karim Benzema, 106 million dollars, including 100 million salary.
Top 10 highest paid athletes on the planet
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (football) — $260 million
2. Jon Rahm (golf) — $218 million
3. Lionel Messi (football) — $135 million
4. LeBron James (basketball) — $128.2 million
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo (basketball) — $111 million
6. Kylian Mbappé (football) — $110 million
7. Neymar (football) — $108 million
8. Karim Benzema (football) — $106 million
9. Stephen Curry (basketball) — $102 million
10. Lamar Jackson (NFL) — $100.5 million
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12. Kevin Durant (basketball) — $93.3 million
25. Klay Thompson (basketball) — $62.3 million
26. Damian Lillard (basketball) — $61.9 million
30. Joel Embiid (basketball) — $57.7 million
31. Jimmy Butler (basketball) — $57.5 million
32. Nikola Jokic (basketball) — $56.1 million
33. James Harden (basketball) — $55.8 million
34. Luka Doncic (basketball) — $55.1 million
35. Bradley Beal (basketball) — $54.3 million
37. Kawhi Leonard (basketball) — $53.7 million
39. Paul George (basketball) — $52.7 million
44. Trae Young (basketball) — $47.3 million
47. Anthony Davis (basketball) — $46.2 million
48. Zion Williamson (basketball) — $46.1 million
49. Jayson Tatum (basketball) — $45.9 million
50. Devin Booker (basketball) — $45.2 million
