Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Top Five Highest Paid Athletes in 2024

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner earned nearly $100 million more than the second-highest paid athlete last year.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the highest paid athlete of last year. / IMAGO/Naushad

Across all teams, countries and sports, Cristiano Ronaldo emerged as the highest paid athlete of 2024.

The richest athletes in the world earn a staggering amount of money from their salaries, winnings, endorsement deals and more. Sportico released a list of the athletes who brought home the most money last year, and five of the top 10 are soccer superstars.

Not only do soccer's greats take up half of the top 10, but they also have a representative at the very top of the list. Five-time Ballon d'Or winner, Ronaldo leads the way in money earned not only just in his sport, but the entire world.

Cristiano Ronaldo Tops Highest Paid Athletes of 2024 List

In 2024, Ronaldo earned $260 million (£206. 2m). The 40-year-old's salary and winnings in a single year totaled to $215M (£170.5) alone. Then, the Portuguese superstar also made an additional $45 million (£35.7m) from endorsements.

After a largely unsuccessful second stint at Manchester United, Ronaldo bid farewell to European soccer and took his talent to the Saudi Pro League for a large price tag. Although he has yet to win any major silverware with Al-Nassr, he is still raking in the highest salary in soccer.

Two more of the soccer representatives in the top 10 also made the move to the Saudi Pro League and cashed in on major contracts in 2024.

The Top Ten Highest Paid Athletes of 2024

Check out the ten superstars who earned the most money last year, per Sportico.

Rank	Athlete	Sport	Team	Total Money Earned in 2024
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Soccer	Al-Nassr	$260m (£206. 2m)
2	Stephen Curry	Basketball	Golden State Warriors	$153.8m (£122m)
3	Tyson Fury	Boxing	N/A	$147m (£116. 6m)
4	Lionel Messi	Soccer	Inter Miami	$135m (£107.1m)
5	LeBron James	Basketball	Los Angeles Lakers	$133.2m (£105. 6m)
6	Neymar	Soccer	Santos	$133m (£105. 5m)
7	Oleksandr Usyk	Boxing	N/A	$122m (£96. 8m)
8	Karim Benzema	Soccer	Al-Ittihad	$116m (£92m)
9	Kylian Mbappé	Soccer	Real Madrid	$110m (£87m)
10	Jon Rahm	Golf	N/A	$105.8m (£83. 9m)

Along with Ronaldo, both Neymar and Karim Benzema finically benefited from joining the Saudi Pro League. Even Neymar, who only made two appearances for Al Hilal in 2024, walked away with a salary of $108 million before joining Santos in 2025.

Lionel Messi made more money than both his former Barcelona teammate and his Real Madrid rival. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner ranks as the fourth highest paid athlete of 2024 and the second in soccer. Still, his $135 million is nearly half of what Ronaldo earned in the same year.

Kylian Mbappé rounds out the top 10 as the only soccer representative playing in Europe. The Frenchman might have joined Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, but he is now the highest paid player on Real Madrid.

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