From tennis to football, these athletes are gifted with incredible talent and go to extraordinary measures to become number one. It is fair to say that these athletes are very well compensated for their chosen profession. Here is a list of the world’s highest-paid athletes of 2022.
Athlete: Lionel Messi
Sport: Soccer
Annual income: $130 million
Lionel Messi is a professional soccer player whose career started at the young age of 17 when signed a contract with the top squad at FC Barcelona. Messi played for FC Barcelona for a total of 17 seasons until transferring to Paris Saint-Germain.
Athlete: LeBron James
Sport: Basketball
Annual income: $41.2 million (On-Field) | $80 million (Off-Field)
LeBron James plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Apart from playing basketball recently signed an endorsement deal with Crypto.com, appeared in the Super Bowl commercial, and invested in Tonal which is a home gym company, and StatusPRO which is a sports tech start-up. He currently has a net worth of $850 million.
Athlete: Cristiano Ronaldo
Sport: Soccer
Annual income: $60 Million (On-Field) | $55 Million (Off-Field)
Cristiano plays for the Portugal national football team. Apart from soccer, Cristiano earns a large chunk of his income from social media with over 690 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. His sponsors include Nike, Herbalife, and Clear shampoo. He is also an investor in Tatel restaurants and the face of ZujuGP.
Athlete: Neymar
Sport: Soccer
Annual income: $70 Million (On-Field) | $25 Million (Off-Field)
Neymar plays for the Brazil national football team and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Neymar also has endorsements from Puma and Red Bull. He will also be starring in the new Netflix series, ‘Neymar: The Perfect Chaos’. After taking an interest in NFTs, he signed with the platform NFTSTAR and spent $1 million on two Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.
Athlete: Stephen Curry
Sport: Basketball
Annual Income: $92.8 million
During this basketball season, Stephen made the most out of all the NBA players. He has recently signed a new endorsement deal with FTX and released a collection of NFTs that featured his sneakers and were tied to three metaverse platforms. Curry also has a production company called, Unanimous Media, that have just signed a development deal with Comcast NBCUniversal.
Athlete: Roger Federer
Sport: Tennis
Annual Income: 90.7 million
Roger is the world’s former No.1 tennis player and remains at the top in his chosen sport. He promotes brands such as Uniqlo and Rolex and recently invested in a Swiss shoe brand.
Conclusion:
These professional athletes certainly do earn a pretty penny, however, most of them have done more to make more by, investing in certain companies and getting endorsed by certain brands. Some even go here to try their luck.
