Portugal national football team striker Cristiano Ronaldo earned 275 million USD in 2023 and topped the ranking of the highest paid athletes in the world, compiled by the Sportico portal.
American golfer Jon Rahm took second place in the ranking with an annual income of 203 million USD. Third place goes to Argentina national football team forward Lionel Messi ($130 million USD). The top five also included basketball player LeBron James (125.5 million USD) and French national team forward Kylian Mbappe (125 million USD).
The ranking of the highest paid athletes includes 100 people from different sports. Basketball players (40 people) are the most represented in it, followed by football players (16 people) and baseball players (13 people). Also included in the rating were American football players (11 people), golfers (10 people), boxers (6 people), race car drivers and tennis players (2 people each).
The highest paid American football player is Patrick Mahomes with an annual income of $84.3 million (10th place in the overall ranking). Among the drivers, the leader is Max Verstappen ($75 million, 15th place), among baseball players - Japanese Shohei Ohtani ($70 million, 16th place), among boxers - Mexican Saul Alvarez ($66 million, 17th place), among tennis players – Serbian Novak Djokovic ($44.9 million, 46th place).
