This is the second consecutive year that Ronaldo has topped the list of Top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world, according to Sportico news site. No female athlete is in this Top 100.
The top 100 includes mostly football, basketball, volleyball, golf and boxing players. They earned a total of $6.2 billion last year, including $4.8 billion in wages, bonuses, and $1.4 billion in sponsorship.
Former US Open tennis champion Coco Gauff is the highest-paid female athlete last year with 30.4 million USD, behind her male counterparts.
Ronaldo's valuable contract with Al Nassr ensures him holds the No. 1 position for the second consecutive year after moving to the Saudi Pro League in December 2022.
Sportico said that Ronaldo has earned a huge salary of 215 million USD, while he also earned 45 million USD from advertising contracts.
Ronaldo has earned at least $100 million for 8 consecutive years and 2024 marks the second consecutive year reaching $200 million or more. This amount of money has pushed his career income to more than 1.8 billion USD, since he made his professional debut for Sporting CP in 2002.
Ronaldo is far ahead of other athletes in the world in terms of income last year. He is followed by Golden State Warriors basketball player Stephen Curry (153.8 million USD).
British boxer Tyson Fury, who lost to Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk in a heavy match in December 2024, is third on the list with 147 million USD.
Lionel Messi is 4th with an income of 135 million USD, while LeBron James of Los Angeles Lakers is 5th with an income of 133.2 million USD.
The top 100 highest-paid athletes in 2024 include representatives from 8 sports and from 27 countries.
The US has the majority of the Top 100 with 64 athletes. He finished second with 5 athletes, followed by Japan and France with 3 athletes each country.
Tiger Woods (62.1 million USD) is the oldest member of the Top 100 at the age of 49, 8 years older than Aaron Rodgers (47.2 million USD). There are 11 athletes aged 25 and under on the list, with Carlos Alcaraz (40.4 million USD) the youngest at 21.
At club level, Boston Celtics, Dallas Maverick, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns each have 3 athletes in the Top 100 highest paid people in the world last year.
