Ronaldo, Curry & Fury Dominate Sports Rich List | OneFootball

The list of the highest-paid athletes in the world reads like a who’s who of sporting royalty across seven different disciplines.

Of the top 50 highest earners, 37 of them ply their trade in either basketball (16), American Football (13) and soccer (eight).

While there is plenty of money to be earned in sports such as cricket and tennis, no athlete from either sport makes it into the top 50 rich list.

Earnings for female athletes have increased in recent years in several sports, but not enough for any woman to feature in the upper echelons of the standings.

Intriguingly, of the seven sports represented in the top 50, there are some startling disparities between the figures recorded by the top earner in each discipline.

The highest earners in the top seven sports

Forbes’ annual list of the highest-paid athletes always sparks plenty of debate in sporting circles, and this year is no different in that regard.

One of the key takeaways from the extensive research is that the threshold for inclusion in the top 50 has risen to $53.6 million this year, almost double the $27.2m figure in 2017.

This year’s 50 top earners banked an estimated $4.23 billion, a significant hike on the previous $3.88bn record set last year.

Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is way ahead of the highest earners in the other six sports featured on the list.

His total earnings tally of $275m is a cool $119m more than NBA star Stephen Curry banked. However, Ronaldo does not come close to Curry in terms of marketability.

While his off-field earnings of $50m are not to be sniffed at, the Golden State Warriors guard garners double Ronaldo’s income from his extra-curricular activities.

The majority of the Portuguese star’s earnings are generated from his mind-boggling contract with Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr.

Although Ronaldo has plenty of lucrative link-ups with major global brands, none of them come close to generating what Curry earns from his long-term Under Armour deal.

The Under Armour Curry Brand will swell his bank balance long after his playing days are over, and that is without considering the $75m in stock compensation he will receive in 2029 and 2034.

Tyson Fury’s position at number three in the top 50 highest earners list is largely fuelled by his two blockbuster fights against Oleksandr Usyk last year.

His $140m windfall from those two bouts places him ahead of the top earners in American Football, baseball, golf, motorsports and basketball in terms of ‘on-field’ earnings.

Curry (NBA) and Juan Soto (MLB) have a case for looking enviously at Fury given the number of games they play each season in their respective sports.

Soto and Dak Prescott (NFL) may also be a little miffed that their whopping on-field earnings are not mirrored by their off-field revenues.

While Curry banked $100m from that route, Prescott ($10m) and Soto ($5m) were left trailing in his wake. However, they both banked more overall than the top earners in golf and motorsport.

Jon Rahm’s $100m earnings placed him 12th in the top 50, ten places ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who finished joint-22nd with boxer Canelo Alvarez on $80m.

Female stars fall short in the earnings stakes

No female athletes feature among the world’s 50 highest-paid stars, continuing a trend that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Tennis star Coco Gauff’s $34.4m earnings last year will keep her comfortable for the rest of her days, but they do not come close to the $53.6m threshold needed to crack the top 50.

Only Naomi Osaka ($57.3m) and Serena Williams ($45.9m) have posted higher totals in a calendar year (2021) than the figure recorded by Gauff.

The disparity in the figures is primarily attributed to the salaries and prize money on offer in team sports, with lucrative media rights the key difference maker.

To put that into perspective, the NBA’s media rights are reportedly worth approximately $6.9bn. By contrast, tripling the media rights in the WNBA only took the figure to around $200m.

Those figures, taken in isolation, call into question the broader argument surrounding demands for equal salaries for male and female athletes.

While individual sports, such as tennis, have levelled the playing field by offering equal prize money, parity in other sports is not a viable proposition.

For instance, while the English Premier League generates massive annual revenues globally, the Women’s Super League barely causes a ripple beyond the domestic market.

Despite this, financial experts have predicted that major brands will continue to show more interest in engaging with women’s sports over the next few years.

Individual endorsements are increasingly becoming a lucrative source of income for some female athletes as they start to recognise the strength of their personal brand.

Freestyle skier Eileen Gu, gymnast Simone Biles and women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark are among the athletes whose off-field earnings outstripped their male counterparts in the top 50 list.

The new kids on the block

Five athletes aged 25 or under earned at least $55m over the past year and have the potential to reach even greater heights in the future.

Trevor Lawrence was touted as the next big thing in the NFL when he was drafted first by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021.

However, his 22-38 record as starting quarterback does not come close to justifying the five-year, $275m contract he signed last June.

The Jaguars have made a plethora of changes on and off the field during the off-season, and Lawrence could still demonstrate why they rate him so highly.

He currently has long-term partnerships with nine major brands, and more would jump on the bandwagon if he drives the Jaguars into Super Bowl contention.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is another NFL star whose future earning potential could significantly outstrip what he currently banks.

The four-year, $140m extension Jefferson signed with the Vikings in June 2024 set an NFL record for the highest average annual contract value for a wide receiver.

The 2020 first-round draft pick has piled up 7,432 receiving yards since being drafted by the Vikings, the most ever in a player’s first five seasons in the NFL.

He is also one of the few non-quarterbacks in the NFL earning millions of dollars off the field, working with major brands such as Oakley, Bose and Visa.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards could be the next NBA star to force his way into the upper echelons of the earning ranks in professional sports.

He banked $62.1m last year, one-third of which came from off-court sources. Lucrative deals with adidas and Netflix could fire Edwards up the standings over the next few years.

Edwards also launched his own docuseries on his YouTube channel in February, further highlighting how top-class athletes are now monetising their personal brand.

The next generation of soccer players would be well-advised to follow the same path if they want to climb the rich list over the next few years.

Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated the landscape in the sport for many years, and their eye-watering earnings are boosted heavily by off-field earnings.

Ronaldo banked $50m last year, while Messi pocketed $75m – figures that dwarf what the two soccer players in the top 50 aged 25 or under earned from their off-field deals.

Manchester City star Erling Braut Haaland is set for life after signing a mega-money contract with the club until 2034. However, his off-field income could be improved.

He has several sponsorships in his native Norway and a lucrative shoe deal with Nike, which generates a combined $14m annually.

However, there is a suspicion that Haaland’s off-field earnings would go through the roof if he signed for Real Madrid or Barcelona in the future.

Vinicius Junior is another soccer star under 25 who features in the top 50. Of his $55m earnings, $15m comes from lucrative off-field endorsements with Gatorade and Pepsi.

The talented Madrid forward has endured a tough time in La Liga, with fans of opposing clubs regularly subjecting him to racist abuse.

A future move to a more welcoming environment could be the 24-year-old’s best option, allowing him to play without worrying about ill-treatment from supporters.