SAN FRANCISCO, June 08, (THEWILL) – Real Madrid football star, Cristiano Ronaldo, has topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s highest-paid athletes on Wednesday.
31-year-old Portuguese forward, Ronaldo, topped the list at $88 million (77.2 million euros) with $56 million in salary and $32 million more from endorsement deals.
The three-time FIFA player of the year is a marketing juggernaut with a new Nike deal worth $13 million annually plus endorsement partners such as Tag Heuer and Herbalife plus his own lines of suits, cologne, shirts, shoes, underwear and hotels.
His rival, Lionel Messi, was next at $81.4 million, with $28 million of that from sponsorships.
LeBron James, who leads the Cleveland Cavaliers against defending champion Golden State in the ongoing NBA Finals, was third on the list and tops among Americans with $77.2 million.
Roger Federer, the Swiss tennis star with a record 17 men’s Grand Slam singles titles, was fourth on $67.8 million. He set the pace in sponsor income at $60 million.
World number one Serena Williams, runner-up at this year’s French and Australian Opens, was the highest earning woman at $28.9 million, 40th overall, with doping-banned Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova 88th on $21.9 million.
The study time frame runs for the 12 months ending one week ago. The top 100 include 65 Americans and athletes from 22 other nations encompassing 10 sports, with the most from baseball at 26.
Together the top 100 took home a combined $3.15 billion, 29 percent of it from endorsements and appearances.
The annual list of total revenues for top sports stars had been topped 12 times by Tiger Woods and in three of the last four by Floyd Mayweather, who retired unbeaten last year.
Story by David Oputah
