Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi's Earnings Revealed in Highest Paid Athletes of 2025 List

The two soccer legends brought in a combined $410 million in earnings this year.

Cristiano Ronaldo headlines the top ten highest paid athletes in the world. / IMAGO/SOPA Images

No soccer players made more money than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in 2025.

Although the next generation of superstars, including Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé, have taken center stage in soccer this year, the two greatest players of all time remain the highest paid. Ronaldo and Messi, who currently play for Al-Nassr and Inter Miami respectively, each earned a staggering amount of money in 2025.

From their salaries and winnings to their endorsement and commercial deals, the two superstars are in a league of their own when it comes to total earnings in the sport. In fact, only one other soccer player features in the list of the top 10 highest paid athletes of 2025.

Instead, representatives from the NBA, NFL, MLB and boxing all cracked the top 10. The high-profile champions combine for a whopping $1.4 billion in earnings over the last year, and every member on the list made over $100 million individually.

Check out the 10 superstars who earned the most money in 2025, per Forbes.

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Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi's Earnings Revealed in Highest Paid Athletes of 2025 List

Rank	Athlete	Sport	Team	Total Money Earned in 2025
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Soccer	Al-Nassr	$275m (£207. 2m)
2	Stephen Curry	Basketball	Golden State Warriors	$156m (£117.5m)
3	Tyson Fury	Boxing	N/A	$146m (£110m)
4	Dak Prescott	Football	Dallas Cowboys	$137m (£103.2m)
5	Lionel Messi	Soccer	Inter Miami	$135m (£101.7m)
6	LeBron James	Basketball	Los Angeles Lakers	$133.8m (£100. 8m)
7	Juan Soto	Baseball	New York Mets	$114m (£85. 9m)
8	Karim Benzema	Soccer	Al-Ittihad	$104m (£78.4m)
9	Shohei Ohtani	Baseball	Los Angeles Dodgers	$102.5m (£77.2m)
10	Kevin Durant	Basketball	Phoenix Suns	$101.4m (£76. 4m)

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For the third-year running, Ronaldo is the highest paid athlete in the world. The Real Madrid legend earned $275 million, over $100 million more than second-place Stephen Curry made in 2025. Ronaldo's on-field earnings amounted to $225 million while his off-field earnings amounted to $50 million, per Forbes.

Although he is the second-highest paid soccer player, Messi only ranks as the fifth-highest paid athlete. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner brought home $135 million, less than Ronaldo, Curry, Tyson Fury and Dak Prescott. Messi made more from his off-field earnings ($75 million) than his on-field earnings ($60 million), per Forbes.

The third and final soccer player in the top 10 is Karim Benzema. Like Ronaldo, Benzema plays in the Saudi Pro League and rakes in a staggering salary worth $100 million. Still, he is over $170 million off of Ronaldo's total earnings on the year, much in part due to only making $4 million from his off-field earnings, per Forbes.

In years past, Neymar also cracked the top 10, but since the Brazilian left the Saudi Pro League to play for Santos, he dropped down to 25 on the list.

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