Top 10 Richest Athletes In the World
In childhood, every child wants to become a professional sportsman. Almost every one of us has a favourite athlete in our life. Sports require practice and skill and only a few people have the eagerness to make it to the top. Sports today are more than just a competitive physical activity. Sports in the modern era is a great way to entertain yourself. The most popular sports in the world are organized within highly profitable leagues which form multi-billion industries. These leagues attract The top-performing professional athletes in the sport. These professional footballers, golfers, tennis players and boxers all earn and pocketed huge wages. These professional athletes earn a lot from their profession and some of them are listed among the richest persons in the world. Do you want to know which sportsman earns from his profession?
Money from TV rights is fuelling massive increases in player salaries across basketball, American football, golf, and soccer. Athletes also earn by salaries, special performance bonuses and prize money. Salaries of millions of dollars per year or even month have become the norm. A majority of their income comes from various sponsorship or endorsements deals, investments. They are also investing their money into different types of businesses and ventures. These earnings rise higher and higher each year. Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all time, with inflation-adjusted career earnings of $2.62 billion. Because of competitive careers that can stretch 30 years or more, golfers have the longest shelf life of any athlete. Therefore, three golfers made it to the list. While Cristiano Ronaldo is the first billionaire soccer player and Lionel Messi is the 2nd in history.
Roger Federer is a Swiss-born professional tennis player who has a net worth of $550 million. According to Forbes, Federer has amassed a whopping $130 million in prize money over his long career. Roger has earned around $1 billion from endorsements during his career so far. Roger Federer has one of the biggest endorsement portfolios compared to other athletes across all sports. He has tie-ups with major companies such as the Japanese clothing company Uniqlo, Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Wilson, Swiss companies like Credit Suisse, Lindt, Rolex, Sunrise, and Jura Elektroapparate.
Rolex is one of Roger Federer's oldest endorsers. Federer’s association with this popular watchmaker is more than a decade old. Rolex struck an endorsement deal with Federer worth a reported $15 million. Roger Federer also partnered with Nike. The deal for 10 years, earns him around $30 million annually. He also has endorsements with the motor sporting and car selling giant Mercedes-Benz. Roger has been a part of Mercedes-Benz endorsements since 2008. Federer earns roughly $5 million a year from his Merc deal. He also has endorsements with tennis equipment manufacturers Wilson. He has been a part of the brand for almost 25 years. He also has his racquet line. Federer joined forces with the Japanese casual wear designer in the year 2018. Federer's Uniqlo deal is reportedly worth almost $300 million.
His other endorsements include Gillette, Barilla, Rimowa, Moët & Chandon, NetJets, Emmi AG, Maurice Lacroix, JURA, Lindt & Sprungli, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, RIMOWA, Rolex, Sunrise Communications AG and Switzerland Tourism. He has stakes in the Swiss athletic apparel company On. Roger Federer invested in NotCo, a plant-based food start-up. He also has his own management company, “Team8,” which was instrumental in setting up the Laver Cup
Michael Schumacher is a former German Formula One race car driver who has a net worth of $600 million. Euro business magazine identified Schumacher as the world's first billionaire athlete. At the peak of his career, he made $80-$100 million per year. Even in years when he was not racing, Schumacher earned $50 million from endorsements alone. His annual salary was $50 million when he worked for Ferrari, and this increased to $75 million when working for Mercedes-Benz.
He was paid $10 million per year by Shell to wear a hat with the company's logo at nearly all public appearances. The 'Red Baron' has been endorsed by the likes of Marlboro and Vodafone. Schumacher is currently sponsored by Deutsche Vermögensberatung. He made $8 million by just wearing a cap with the logo of Deutsche Vermögensberatung inscribed in it. He also was the advertising partner for the watch company, Omega.
Lionel Messi is an Argentinian-born professional athlete. Lionel Messi's net worth is $600 million. Lionel Messi earned the majority of his net worth as a striker and winger for FC Barcelona. After agreeing a deal with PSG, Messi will receive €30 million-35 million per season during his time at the Ligue 1 side. There will also be a team and individual bonuses.
Barcelona gave Messi an average base annual salary of $168 million. His last contract at Barcelona was reportedly worth a net £500,000 a week. Forbes valued his endorsements at $35m for that year. Messi has also been part of endorsements including Pepsi, Lays, SikSilk, Leafty, Jacob & Co. and Gatorade, Gillette and Turkish Airlines. He has a lifetime endorsement deal with Adidas.
NBA superstar LeBron James is one of the highest-paid athletes of all time. James is reported to have earned a whopping 1.17 billion dollars. He received some $400 million of the total from playing on the court, and the rest of his millions come from endorsements and other sources. Every year, LeBron James earns around $40 million in salary from the NBA and roughly $55 million from endorsements. That brings his total annual income to roughly $100 million. James is currently receiving a base of $41.2 million a year.
His other assets include cash, luxury cars, and other investments such as company shares. He has stakes in SpringHill Company, which is valued at $300 million, which he formed with friend and business partner Maverick Carter. LeBron also owned 1% off Beats by Dre. James launched Ladder, a health and wellness company. James also has $70 million invested in Fenway Sports Group, which owns various sports teams. His real estate holdings are estimated at $100 million. LeBron invested in a tiny fast-food pizza chain called Blaze Pizza, which is valued at approximately $30 million.
He has a $1 billion lifetime contract with Nike. Today LeBron earns $20 million per year from Nike in the form of salary and royalty payments for his signature shoe line. LeBron has endorsement deals with dozens of companies including McDonald's, Microsoft, State Farm, Beats by Dre, Coca-Cola, Dunkin-Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Samsung, Nike and more. LeBron James signed with The Coca-Cola Company. He often promotes Powerade and Sprite. James' other endorsement deals include Upper Deck Trading Cards, State Farm Insurance, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Verizon, Intel, and Swiss watch company Audemars Piguet.
Floyd Mayweather is an American boxing champion. He is the richest boxer of all time. Floyd Mayweather's net worth is $450 million. As of now, Floyd's total career earnings is $1.1 billion. Floyd is one of just six athletes whose career earnings have topped $1 billion.
More than half of his total income was from two money-spinning fights. He earned $250 million in 2015 after fighting Manny Pacquiao. In 2017, he earned $300 million fighting Conor McGregor. Floyd isn’t big on the endorsement. His only notable endorsements have come during his fight against Pacquiao when three brands, Hublot, Burger King, and FanDuel spent $1 million each.
Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed $1billion in career earnings and as of October 2021 has a net worth of $500 million, according to news reports. Ronaldo's total career earnings are $1.1 billion. In a given year he easily earns $100-150 million from salary and endorsements. Ronaldo enjoyed a successful career at Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, as well as playing as Portugal's captain. Ronaldo earn roughly $27m a year at Manchester United. While at Juventus, he earned $34m a year. Prior to his switch to Juve, Ronaldo earned around £365,000 a week before bonuses at Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo typically earns more than $60 million per year as a base salary, although this has changed throughout the years and with his different clubs. Off the field, he earns more than $40 million a year from endorsements.
Ronaldo has had endorsement deals with Armani, Tag Heuer, Egyptian Steel, Herbalife, Italia Independent, Clear, PokerStars and Castrol. Ronaldo has also represented Altice, Herbalife, DAZN, MTG, Clear Shampoo, Abbott and Unilever. He has partnerships include LiveScore, MEO, ZujuGP, Uniecampus, Therabody and Clear. Ronaldo is also the ambassador for Japanese tech company SIXPAD. Ronaldo's CR7 image is mostly centred on his underwear line but has also expanded into various other clothing, perfumes and home products. Ronaldo owns several hotels - named Pestana CR7 - in Portugal. He invested in gyms in a partnership with US health company Crunch. In March 2019, Ronaldo launched a hair transplant clinic in Spain called Insparya. Ronaldo's most significant sponsorship deal is with Nike. In November 2016, Cristiano signed a $1 billion "lifetime" deal with Nike.
Jack Nicklaus is an American retired professional golfer. He won a record 18 major championships. As of 2022, Jack Nicklaus’ net worth is roughly $400 million. He founded Nicklaus Design 50 years ago and to date has designed more than 380 golf courses in 36 countries. He has a line of golf balls.
He has licensed his name to the AriZona Beverage company for a branded lemonade. Arnold Palmer already had his flavour by this point. He's also got endorsement and marketing deals with several companies including Perry Ellis and Rolex.
Arnold Palmer was an American professional golfer. He has a net worth of $700 million. He is considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. Arnold earned more than $1.3 billion from endorsements and entrepreneurial ventures. Palmer owned multiple businesses, many of them golf-related. Palmer worked on more than 300 golf courses in 37 states, 25 countries, and five continents. He formed the company Palmer Course Design. It was renamed the Arnold Palmer Design Company in 2006. He owned the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. He also owned the Latrobe Country Club. He founded the sports network The Golf Channel.
Under his brand name, Arnold Palmer Enterprises, he sold various items, such as sporting equipment, clothing, insurance, soft drinks, cars, cigarettes, and many households and hardware products. Palmer ventured into the car business in 1974 when he purchased a Cadillac dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina. He would go on to acquire several other dealerships across multiple states, including a Buick-Cadillac dealership. Arnold Palmer partnered with AriZona Beverage Company to sell a canned version featuring both his name and face.
Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer who has a net worth of $800 million. Woods's career earnings are $2.108 billion. Every year Tiger earns $50-60 million. He is the highest-earning golfer of all time and was the highest-earning celebrity on the planet for many years. Woods’ money primarily comes from his golf salary, his golf design business, appearance fees and his endorsements. Tiger's first revenue comes from winning tournaments and endorsing products. Tiger has earned $118 million on the golf course. That amounts to 7.6% of his total career earnings. The bulk of Tigers' fortune roughly 92.4% of his career earnings, around $1.6 billion, comes from endorsements. His endorsements deals include Nike, Gatorade, American Express, Asahi, General Mills, Golf Digest, Rolex, Gillette, Accenture, Tag Heuer, AT&T, EA Sports, NetJets, Upper Deck, TLC Laser Eye Centers, 2K Sports, Bridgestone, Centinel Spine, Discovery Communications, Inc, Full Swing, Hero Motocorp, Kowa Company Ltd., Monster Energy, TaylorMade and Buick.
Gatorade developed a custom branded drink for Woods called "Gatorade Tiger". The Gatorade deal alone was worth $100 million over 5 years. In past, Tiger Woods earned $20 million per year to endorse Gillette. After winning The Masters, he signed a 5-year $40 million deal with Nike and 5-year $20 million deal with Titleist. After winning the Byron Nelson Classic, Tiger signed a 5-year $30 million deal with American Express. The American Express deal combined with his Nike, Titleist, and tournament winnings brought his career earnings to $100 million. In September 2000, Tiger signed his second Nike endorsement deal, worth $100 million, over 5 years. Tiger commands $10 million to design golf courses all over the world and can earn as much as $1.5 million just to show up to a golf tournament.
Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. Michael Jordan made most of his fortune after he retired from the game. He earned $93 million over his entire 15 seasons in the league. He also received most of his income from endorsements for companies like Nike, Gatorade, Hanes, McDonald’s and Upper Deck.
He continues to be an ambassador for Nike and has his apparel line, Jordan Brand. Jordan reportedly earns around $100 million from Nike royalties alone. Much of his net worth now is attributed to the team he owns, the Charlotte Hornets. He became a billionaire with his ownership stake in the Charlotte Hornets. He also owns quite a several restaurants in various locations around the United States.
Money from TV rights is fuelling massive increases in player salaries across basketball, American football, golf, and soccer. Athletes also earn by salaries, special performance bonuses and prize money. Salaries of millions of dollars per year or even month have become the norm. A majority of their income comes from various sponsorship or endorsements deals, investments. They are also investing their money into different types of businesses and ventures. These earnings rise higher and higher each year. Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all time, with inflation-adjusted career earnings of $2.62 billion. Because of competitive careers that can stretch 30 years or more, golfers have the longest shelf life of any athlete. Therefore, three golfers made it to the list. While Cristiano Ronaldo is the first billionaire soccer player and Lionel Messi is the 2nd in history.
Roger Federer is a Swiss-born professional tennis player who has a net worth of $550 million. According to Forbes, Federer has amassed a whopping $130 million in prize money over his long career. Roger has earned around $1 billion from endorsements during his career so far. Roger Federer has one of the biggest endorsement portfolios compared to other athletes across all sports. He has tie-ups with major companies such as the Japanese clothing company Uniqlo, Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Wilson, Swiss companies like Credit Suisse, Lindt, Rolex, Sunrise, and Jura Elektroapparate.
Rolex is one of Roger Federer's oldest endorsers. Federer’s association with this popular watchmaker is more than a decade old. Rolex struck an endorsement deal with Federer worth a reported $15 million. Roger Federer also partnered with Nike. The deal for 10 years, earns him around $30 million annually. He also has endorsements with the motor sporting and car selling giant Mercedes-Benz. Roger has been a part of Mercedes-Benz endorsements since 2008. Federer earns roughly $5 million a year from his Merc deal. He also has endorsements with tennis equipment manufacturers Wilson. He has been a part of the brand for almost 25 years. He also has his racquet line. Federer joined forces with the Japanese casual wear designer in the year 2018. Federer's Uniqlo deal is reportedly worth almost $300 million.
His other endorsements include Gillette, Barilla, Rimowa, Moët & Chandon, NetJets, Emmi AG, Maurice Lacroix, JURA, Lindt & Sprungli, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, RIMOWA, Rolex, Sunrise Communications AG and Switzerland Tourism. He has stakes in the Swiss athletic apparel company On. Roger Federer invested in NotCo, a plant-based food start-up. He also has his own management company, “Team8,” which was instrumental in setting up the Laver Cup
Michael Schumacher is a former German Formula One race car driver who has a net worth of $600 million. Euro business magazine identified Schumacher as the world's first billionaire athlete. At the peak of his career, he made $80-$100 million per year. Even in years when he was not racing, Schumacher earned $50 million from endorsements alone. His annual salary was $50 million when he worked for Ferrari, and this increased to $75 million when working for Mercedes-Benz.
He was paid $10 million per year by Shell to wear a hat with the company's logo at nearly all public appearances. The 'Red Baron' has been endorsed by the likes of Marlboro and Vodafone. Schumacher is currently sponsored by Deutsche Vermögensberatung. He made $8 million by just wearing a cap with the logo of Deutsche Vermögensberatung inscribed in it. He also was the advertising partner for the watch company, Omega.
Lionel Messi is an Argentinian-born professional athlete. Lionel Messi's net worth is $600 million. Lionel Messi earned the majority of his net worth as a striker and winger for FC Barcelona. After agreeing a deal with PSG, Messi will receive €30 million-35 million per season during his time at the Ligue 1 side. There will also be a team and individual bonuses.
Barcelona gave Messi an average base annual salary of $168 million. His last contract at Barcelona was reportedly worth a net £500,000 a week. Forbes valued his endorsements at $35m for that year. Messi has also been part of endorsements including Pepsi, Lays, SikSilk, Leafty, Jacob & Co. and Gatorade, Gillette and Turkish Airlines. He has a lifetime endorsement deal with Adidas.
NBA superstar LeBron James is one of the highest-paid athletes of all time. James is reported to have earned a whopping 1.17 billion dollars. He received some $400 million of the total from playing on the court, and the rest of his millions come from endorsements and other sources. Every year, LeBron James earns around $40 million in salary from the NBA and roughly $55 million from endorsements. That brings his total annual income to roughly $100 million. James is currently receiving a base of $41.2 million a year.
His other assets include cash, luxury cars, and other investments such as company shares. He has stakes in SpringHill Company, which is valued at $300 million, which he formed with friend and business partner Maverick Carter. LeBron also owned 1% off Beats by Dre. James launched Ladder, a health and wellness company. James also has $70 million invested in Fenway Sports Group, which owns various sports teams. His real estate holdings are estimated at $100 million. LeBron invested in a tiny fast-food pizza chain called Blaze Pizza, which is valued at approximately $30 million.
He has a $1 billion lifetime contract with Nike. Today LeBron earns $20 million per year from Nike in the form of salary and royalty payments for his signature shoe line. LeBron has endorsement deals with dozens of companies including McDonald's, Microsoft, State Farm, Beats by Dre, Coca-Cola, Dunkin-Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Samsung, Nike and more. LeBron James signed with The Coca-Cola Company. He often promotes Powerade and Sprite. James' other endorsement deals include Upper Deck Trading Cards, State Farm Insurance, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Verizon, Intel, and Swiss watch company Audemars Piguet.
Floyd Mayweather is an American boxing champion. He is the richest boxer of all time. Floyd Mayweather's net worth is $450 million. As of now, Floyd's total career earnings is $1.1 billion. Floyd is one of just six athletes whose career earnings have topped $1 billion.
More than half of his total income was from two money-spinning fights. He earned $250 million in 2015 after fighting Manny Pacquiao. In 2017, he earned $300 million fighting Conor McGregor. Floyd isn’t big on the endorsement. His only notable endorsements have come during his fight against Pacquiao when three brands, Hublot, Burger King, and FanDuel spent $1 million each.
Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed $1billion in career earnings and as of October 2021 has a net worth of $500 million, according to news reports. Ronaldo's total career earnings are $1.1 billion. In a given year he easily earns $100-150 million from salary and endorsements. Ronaldo enjoyed a successful career at Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, as well as playing as Portugal's captain. Ronaldo earn roughly $27m a year at Manchester United. While at Juventus, he earned $34m a year. Prior to his switch to Juve, Ronaldo earned around £365,000 a week before bonuses at Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo typically earns more than $60 million per year as a base salary, although this has changed throughout the years and with his different clubs. Off the field, he earns more than $40 million a year from endorsements.
Ronaldo has had endorsement deals with Armani, Tag Heuer, Egyptian Steel, Herbalife, Italia Independent, Clear, PokerStars and Castrol. Ronaldo has also represented Altice, Herbalife, DAZN, MTG, Clear Shampoo, Abbott and Unilever. He has partnerships include LiveScore, MEO, ZujuGP, Uniecampus, Therabody and Clear. Ronaldo is also the ambassador for Japanese tech company SIXPAD. Ronaldo's CR7 image is mostly centred on his underwear line but has also expanded into various other clothing, perfumes and home products. Ronaldo owns several hotels - named Pestana CR7 - in Portugal. He invested in gyms in a partnership with US health company Crunch. In March 2019, Ronaldo launched a hair transplant clinic in Spain called Insparya. Ronaldo's most significant sponsorship deal is with Nike. In November 2016, Cristiano signed a $1 billion "lifetime" deal with Nike.
Jack Nicklaus is an American retired professional golfer. He won a record 18 major championships. As of 2022, Jack Nicklaus’ net worth is roughly $400 million. He founded Nicklaus Design 50 years ago and to date has designed more than 380 golf courses in 36 countries. He has a line of golf balls.
He has licensed his name to the AriZona Beverage company for a branded lemonade. Arnold Palmer already had his flavour by this point. He's also got endorsement and marketing deals with several companies including Perry Ellis and Rolex.
Arnold Palmer was an American professional golfer. He has a net worth of $700 million. He is considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. Arnold earned more than $1.3 billion from endorsements and entrepreneurial ventures. Palmer owned multiple businesses, many of them golf-related. Palmer worked on more than 300 golf courses in 37 states, 25 countries, and five continents. He formed the company Palmer Course Design. It was renamed the Arnold Palmer Design Company in 2006. He owned the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. He also owned the Latrobe Country Club. He founded the sports network The Golf Channel.
Under his brand name, Arnold Palmer Enterprises, he sold various items, such as sporting equipment, clothing, insurance, soft drinks, cars, cigarettes, and many households and hardware products. Palmer ventured into the car business in 1974 when he purchased a Cadillac dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina. He would go on to acquire several other dealerships across multiple states, including a Buick-Cadillac dealership. Arnold Palmer partnered with AriZona Beverage Company to sell a canned version featuring both his name and face.
Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer who has a net worth of $800 million. Woods's career earnings are $2.108 billion. Every year Tiger earns $50-60 million. He is the highest-earning golfer of all time and was the highest-earning celebrity on the planet for many years. Woods’ money primarily comes from his golf salary, his golf design business, appearance fees and his endorsements. Tiger's first revenue comes from winning tournaments and endorsing products. Tiger has earned $118 million on the golf course. That amounts to 7.6% of his total career earnings. The bulk of Tigers' fortune roughly 92.4% of his career earnings, around $1.6 billion, comes from endorsements. His endorsements deals include Nike, Gatorade, American Express, Asahi, General Mills, Golf Digest, Rolex, Gillette, Accenture, Tag Heuer, AT&T, EA Sports, NetJets, Upper Deck, TLC Laser Eye Centers, 2K Sports, Bridgestone, Centinel Spine, Discovery Communications, Inc, Full Swing, Hero Motocorp, Kowa Company Ltd., Monster Energy, TaylorMade and Buick.
Gatorade developed a custom branded drink for Woods called "Gatorade Tiger". The Gatorade deal alone was worth $100 million over 5 years. In past, Tiger Woods earned $20 million per year to endorse Gillette. After winning The Masters, he signed a 5-year $40 million deal with Nike and 5-year $20 million deal with Titleist. After winning the Byron Nelson Classic, Tiger signed a 5-year $30 million deal with American Express. The American Express deal combined with his Nike, Titleist, and tournament winnings brought his career earnings to $100 million. In September 2000, Tiger signed his second Nike endorsement deal, worth $100 million, over 5 years. Tiger commands $10 million to design golf courses all over the world and can earn as much as $1.5 million just to show up to a golf tournament.
Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. Michael Jordan made most of his fortune after he retired from the game. He earned $93 million over his entire 15 seasons in the league. He also received most of his income from endorsements for companies like Nike, Gatorade, Hanes, McDonald’s and Upper Deck.
He continues to be an ambassador for Nike and has his apparel line, Jordan Brand. Jordan reportedly earns around $100 million from Nike royalties alone. Much of his net worth now is attributed to the team he owns, the Charlotte Hornets. He became a billionaire with his ownership stake in the Charlotte Hornets. He also owns quite a several restaurants in various locations around the United States.
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