With 260 million USD, Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list of athletes with the highest income of the year as announced by Forbes magazine, twice as much as Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo became the highest-paid athlete in the world after moving to Al Nassr of the Saudi Pro League. According to Forbes ‘ announcement on May 16, the Portuguese striker earned about 260 million USD in the past 12 months – a record number for a football player.

The 39-year-old star has a fixed salary of 200 million USD and pocketed an additional 60 million USD thanks to sponsorship contracts, including advertising for many brands on Instagram with more than 600 million followers. Ronaldo has a contract with Al Nassr until 2025 and affirms that he wants to continue playing at the top level.

Meanwhile, Messi ranked third on the list, earning $135 million after moving to Inter Miami Club in the US Professional League (MLS). This number includes 65 million USD in salary and 70 million USD from contracts with major sponsors such as Adidas and Apple.

Interspersed between these two football stars is Jon Rahm – a golfer who switched to competing in the tournament system owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), despite being an A-list star of the PGA Tour. The Spanish player is expected to receive an offer worth about 300 million to 500 million euros (nearly 550 million USD) on a four-year contract.

According to Forbes , Rahm received $218 million in the past 12 months and and Ronaldo are the only two athletes to earn more than $200 million.

The remaining two names in the top 5 are all basketball stars, including LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers with 128.2 million USD and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks with 111 million USD.

French football team captain Kylian Mbappe dropped to sixth with $110 million. His former teammate Neymar – the Brazilian striker who joined Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League – is next with 108 million USD. The remaining names in the top 10 are soccer striker Karim Benzema ($106 million), NBA star Steph Curry Steph Curry and NFL player Lamar Jackson ($100.5 million).

In total, the 50 highest-paid athletes in the world have earned about 3.88 billion USD in the past 12 months. This figure does not include taxes or agency fees, and is an increase of 13% compared to last year’s record of 3.44 billion USD.

About 76%, equivalent to 2.94 billion USD, comes from fixed salaries and the remaining 24%, equivalent to 936 million USD, is income from advertising, event participation, and business – down 13% over the same period. last year from 1.08 billion USD.

Among them, the NBA has the most names with 19, followed by the NFL with 11 and football with 8. Rahm is one of 22 athletes under 30 years old on the list – signaling a generational transition. People who have repeatedly topped the Forbes list such as Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Tom Brady have retired, while Ronaldo, LeBron James, Tiger Woods and three other athletes over the age of 39 are also entering the final stages of their careers. peak.