Barcelona’s star forward, Lionel Messi has been crowned as the highest paid athlete by Forbes, in its latest rankings of 100 Highest-paid athletes around the world.
The ranking which is done annually, also revealed that the 100 athletes featured in the list, earned a whopping sum of $4 billion between last year and now cumulatively, beating the total of $3.8 billion recorded previously.
Messi defeated the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Federer, LeBron James, after earning the sum of £99.8million through his salary and other endorsements.
See the list of the top ten below.
Rank Athlete Sport Salary/Winnings £ ($) Endorsements £ ($) Total Earnings £ ($)
1 Lionel Messi Soccer 72.3m (92m) 27.5m (35m) 99.8m (127m)
2 Cristiano Ronaldo Soccer 51.1m (65m) 34.6m (44m) 85.7m (109m)
3 Neymar Soccer 58.9m (75m) 23.6m (30m) 82.5m (105m)
4 Canelo Alvarez Boxing 72.3m (92m) 1.6m (2m) 73.9m (94m)
5 Roger Federer Tennis 5.8m (7.4m) 67.6m (86m) 73.4m (93.4m)
6 Russell Wilson Football 63.2m (80.5m) 7m (9m) 70.3m (89.5m)
7 Aaron Rodgers Football 63.1m (80.3m) 7m (9m) 70.2m (89.3m)
8 LeBron James Basketball 28.3m (36m) 41.7m (53m) 70m (89m)
9 Stephen Curry Basketball 29.7m (37.8m) 33m (42m) 62.7m (79.8)
10 Kevin Durant Basketball 23.9m (30.4m) 27.5m (35m) 51.4m (65.4m)
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