Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated world football for the past 15 years with Barcelona and PSG, and Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United respectively. And both men have used their incredible skill and fame to bank over a billion US Dollars in salaries and endorsements.
It is since 2011 that Messi and Ronaldo’s earning power has really taken off.
Every May or June, the business magazine Forbes puts together a list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world over the previous 12 months and 2011 was the first year the football superstars featured in the top 10, with Messi in 10th and Ronaldo in seventh on that occasion.
Ever since, the financial might of the Messi-Ronaldo industrial complex has grown like Japanese knotweed and in 2016, the pair featured as number one and number two on the Forbes list for the first time, with Ronaldo earning $88million to Messi’s $81.4million in the financial year from 2015 to 2016.
The only footballer to come above Messi and Ronaldo in any of the years since 2011 is David Beckham who was sixth on Forbes’ list in 2011, and eighth in 2012 and 2013. And the only player to come close to the pair more recently is Messi’s current PSG team-mate Neymar, who first featured in Forbes top 10 in 2018, the year after his lucrative transfer to the French capital.
Over the 11 years in question here, Ronaldo has earned more than Messi on seven occasions. But Messi’s earning powers have outstripped those of his great rival more recently, with the Argentine topping Ronaldo on the list in four of the past five years.
But how much have they earned? What’s the breakdown between salaries and endorsements? And which of the two GOAT contenders has banked more in total since 2011?
We’ve got the full rundown of Messi and Ronaldo’s earnings here. All information listed below is from Forbes and is therefore in US Dollars. Whatever currency you use, though, the figures are pretty obscene.
Lionel Messi
2011
Position in Forbes top 100: 10th
Salary: $13.65million
Endorsements: $18.65million
Total: $32million
2012
Position in Forbes top 100: 11th
Salary: $20million
Endorsements: $19million
Total:$39million
2013
Position in Forbes top 100: 10th
Salary: $20.3million
Endorsements: $21million
Total: $41.3million
• • • •
READ: Where are they now? The Barcelona B XI from Messi’s last game in 2005
• • • •
2014
Position in Forbes top 100: 4th
Salary: $41.7million
Endorsements: $23million
Total:…
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