Although there were no outstanding individual or collective titles in the past year, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is still the highest-paid sports athlete in the world in 2023. True to the motto : “I lack titles. But when it comes to money, I handicap” both Messi, and the rest of world sports.

Specifically, moving to Saudi Arabia to play for Al Nassr helped Ronaldo earn a total of about 200 million euros per season (contract until 2025). Add to that Ronaldo’s popularity, which brings him lucrative advertising contracts. He is followed by 615 million users on Instagram alone, which also helps Ronaldo make a lot of money from his social media posts.

Ranked second is Lionel Messi with 120 million euros. Another football player who also earns a lot of money is Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain who earns a sum of 111 million euros according to Forbes .

An interesting detail is that a retired athlete is still in the top 10 in terms of income! That is tennis legend Roger Federer (42 years old) ending his career in 2022 but still earning about 88 million euros this year!

Also benefiting from the splendor of her career and lucrative advertising contracts is American tennis star Serena Williams. She still earns 41.5 million euros in 2023. The richest basketball player is LeBron James (38 years old) in fourth place with 110 million euros, followed by boxer Canelo Alvarez (33 years old, 101 million euros ).