Cristiano Ronaldo is officially the highest paid footballer of all time.
The Juventus star eclipsed $1 billion in pre-tax career earnings in 2019, the first soccer player to accomplish the feat, according to Forbes.
Last month Forbes announced Ronaldo had passed Lionel Messi as the highest paid footballer, though both trailed tennis star Roger Federer in annual earnings. This week, Forbes released its list of highest paid celebrities, with those three athletes all ranking in the top five.
Cristiano Ronaldo ranked No. 4 on this year's #Celeb100 list, one spot above his top rival in the sport, Lionel Messi—and making him the first soccer player in history to see earnings of $1 billion (pretax) https://t.co/bgg5sQRSJT pic.twitter.com/p9ecOuRMKs
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 5, 2020
Kylie Jenner came in first on Forbes’ list raking in an absurd $590 million even though I don’t think anyone knows what it is she actually does. Kanye West ranked second at $170 million. Then came the athletes: Federer ($106.3m), Ronaldo ($105m) and Messi ($104m). (Note: figures are pre-tax.)
Neymar ranked seventh on the list with $95.5 million, just behind Tyler Perry ($97m). LeBron James ($88.2m) was the only other athlete in the top 10. The highest paid woman athlete was Naomi Osaka, who ranked 90th with $37 million, the most a female athlete has ever made in a single year.
So while Ronaldo has become football’s first billionaire, where does that leave Messi? Last year the Barcelona star trailed only Taylor Swift, West and Jenner in earnings, pulling in $127 million. In November of 2017, Messi signed a contract extension that pays him more than $80 million per year before bonuses and endorsements through the 2020-2021 season. Messi is three years younger than Ronaldo, so barring a significant injury, he’ll likely soon become the sport’s second billionaire.
