American basketball player Michael Jordan topped the list of the 50 most financially successful athletes of all time according to Sportico. According to the study, the legendary athlete earned about $4.15 billion during his career, adjusted for inflation (3 billion without taking inflation into account), writes daily.afisha.ru.
This amount significantly exceeds the income of other titled athletes. In second place is American golfer Tiger Woods with earnings of $2.79 billion adjusted for inflation, and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is in third place with $2.23 billion. It is noteworthy that, unlike Jordan, these athletes continue their active sports careers.
Basketball player LeBron James ($1.88 billion) and footballer Lionel Messi ($1.85 billion) also made it into the top five. The top 10 was roundedout by American golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, footballer David Beckham, tennis player Roger Federer and boxer Floyd Mayweather.
Other notable athletes in the ranking included racing driver Michael Schumacher, who came in 12th with earnings of $1.39 billion, and the highest-paid American football player Tom Brady, who rounded out the top 25. The most successful baseball player was Alex Rodriguez, who came in 22nd.
The combined earnings of all 50 athletes on the list were $53.2 billion, adjusted for inflation. Interestingly, the list only includes athletes from eight sports, and the only woman on it was tennis player Serena Williams, who ranked 40th.
