“Cristiano Ronaldo Becomes Highest-Paid Sportsman in 2023 with Al-Nassr Contract, Beating Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé in Forbes Ranking”

With his departure for Saudi Arabia, he is now the highest paid sportsman in 2023: Cristiano Ronaldo, on the strength of his fabulous contract with the Saudi club Al-Nassr, is at the top of the Forbes ranking, with 136 million dollars in income ( 124 million euros), ahead of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. The 38-year-old Portuguese striker is back in first place, having occupied it in 2016 and 2017. This return to the top is the direct consequence of his departure from Manchester United for Saudi Arabia in January, because his two Combined contracts will net him $46m (€42m) this season, plus 90 (82) from various commercial partnerships over the past twelve months.

Committed until 2025 with Al-Nassr, Ronaldo will receive an annual salary of 75 million dollars, estimates the American specialized media which also anticipates “additional marketing opportunities” in this country of which he is now an unofficial sports ambassador. A role also taken on by Lionel Messi, dislodged from first place despite his 130 million dollars (118 M EUR) in gross income before taxes. The Argentinian is indeed bound by a big contract with the Kingdom’s tourist office, while playing for Paris SG, a club owned by the rival emirate of Qatar, which has just suspended him several days after a two-week trip. days in Riyadh without the agreement of its leaders.

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The two soccer superstars aren’t the only ones to reflect Saudi Arabia’s big investments in the sport, as Americans Dustin Johnson ($107m) and Phil Mickelson (106) appear in the top 10 at the sixth and seventh, reaping the dividends of their migration from the PGA Tour to dissident Kingdom-funded LIV Golf. A Frenchman nevertheless completes the podium, in the person of Kylian Mbappé, who makes a spectacular leap from 35th to 3rd place, with 120 million dollars in income (109 million euros) on the strength of his contract renewed last year. with PSG, which brought him 100 (91 million euros). In addition to this biggest salary in world football, there are 20 million earned off the pitch. Right behind him is Lakers superstar basketball player LeBron James, 38, and his $119.5 million in earnings, of which $75 million (EUR 68 million) is non-sports earnings.

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