Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi top Forbes’ highest-paid athletes list
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi top the Forbes list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, which it released on Wednesday.
The rankings are compiled by combining the athletes’ salary and/or winnings with their endorsement deals.
Ronaldo tops the list with a total pay of $88 million from $56 million in salary and $32 million in endorsements. Messi comes in second with his total pay at $81.4 million, coming from a $53.4 million salary and $28 million in endorsements.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James ($77.2 million), Swiss tennis player Roger Federer ($67.8 million) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant ($56.2 million) round out the top five.
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Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton ($53.1 million) is the NFL player with the highest pay at No. 7 overall on the list, and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw ($32 million) is the highest-paid MLB player at No. 33 on the list.
Golfer Jordan Spieth ($52.8 million, No. 9) is the youngest highly paid athlete on the list and Phil Mickelson ($52.9 million, No. 8) is the oldest.
Tennis players Serena Williams ($28.9 million, No. 40) and Maria Sharapova ($21.9 million, No. 88) are the only two women on the list.
- Erin Flynn
