Lionel Messi‘s $126 million (£98m) earnings over the past year puts him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo ($117 m/£91m) on Forbes’ list of highest paid football players.
In doing so Messi becomes only the second player to boast such sums following Ronaldo, who reached the landmark figure earlier this year.
Messi’s earnings are funded largely from his mammoth Barcelona salary of $92m (£72m), but he also receives a significant portion of $34m (£26m) from endorsements.
The 33-year-old has various sponsorship deals including Adidas, Pepsi and Budweiser.
1. Lionel Messi – $126m
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – $117m
3. Neymar – $96m
4. Mbappe – $42m
5. Mohamed Salah – $37m
6. Pogba – $34m
7. Griezmann – $33m
8. Gareth Bale – $29m
9. Robert Lewandowski – $28m
10. De Gea – $27m
Lionel Messi’s $126 million (£98m) earnings over the past year puts him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo ($117 m/£91m) on Forbes’ list of highest-paid footballers.
Other notable mentions:
3. Neymar – $96m
4. Mbappe – $42m
5. Salah – $37m
6. Pogba – $34m
10. De Gea – $27m pic.twitter.com/86ekHBDoy9— Goal (@goal) September 15, 2020