Cristiano Ronaldo doubles Lionel Messi’s earnings to top highest-paid athletes chart - with Brazilian superstar Neymar tumbling down the list

Ronaldo - who boasts record-shattering numbers of followers on social media, which allow him to bump up his earnings off the pitch - tops the Sportico list for the third straight year. His contract with Saudi Pro League employers is said to be worth $200m (£149m) over the course of 12 months. He pulls in a further $60m (£45m) from other ventures.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner CR7 has earned at least $100m (£74m) across nine consecutive years, with this the third occasion in which he has surged beyond $200m. He boasts several lucrative endorsement partnerships, including deals with Nike, Herbalife, Binance, Perplexity, Yili and Therabody. His total follower count online has eclipsed 1 billion.

Argentine icon Messi - who works closely with adidas, among others - sits third on the Sportico chart. He does, however, pull in half of what Ronaldo earns, with the World Cup winner generating $130m (£97m) of earning power across 2025. He has signed a new contract with MLS Cup winners Inter Miami through 2028.

Ronaldo is also working on fresh terms at Al-Nassr, with a historic agreement there being extended through to the summer of 2027. It has been suggested that the evergreen striker, who is already 40 years of age, could play on beyond that point. Both he and Messi are being tipped to grace this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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Neymar, who is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, should also be at that event. He needs to prove his fitness to Selecao boss Carlo Ancelotti, but has signed a new contract with boyhood club Santos and has been playing with a smile again after enduring much-publicised injury issues.

He retraced steps to his homeland early in 2025. Having seen a deal with Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal terminated, Neymar is earning considerably less in his native South America. With that in mind, he has slipped out of Sportico’s top six and down to No.30 - with his numbers nearly $50m (£37m) down on what they were a year ago.

Overall, the top 100 earned $6.05 billion (£4.5bn) - with that figure down 2.1% on last year. The cutoff point on the men’s list was $37.9m (£28.2m), while tennis superstar Coco Gauff topped the women’s chart as the highest-paid female athlete on $37.5m (£28m).

Mexican boxing sensation Canelo Alvarez splits Ronaldo and Messi on the men’s list, having agreed a lucrative deal with Saudi promoters. NBA players represent 40 per cent of the top 100, as LeBron James leads the way once more - with the LA Lakers icon earning $80m (£60m) off the court. He has been the top-earning basketball star in 12 of the last 13 seasons - with only Steph Curry breaking that sequence in 2024-25.

The NFL sits behind the NBA with 22 players inside the top 100. Kansas City Chiefs talisman Patrick Mahomes heads that list, with fellow quarterbacks Josh Allen and Justin Herbert following closely behind.

Football has 13 members of the top 100 and five inside the top 20. Karim Benzema, who also plies his trade in the Saudi Pro League, sits sixth. Real Madrid ‘Galactico’ Kylian Mbappe is just outside the top 10, while prolific Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is 18th.