American sports financial media Sportico announced the 2024 global athlete income ranking on the 13th, and Portuguese superstar Ronaldo is "leading the way" with an income of $260 million, surpassing the second-ranked NBA American star Curry by $106.2 million, and there is no female athlete in the top 100 of this list.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo

In the 2024 global athlete earnings ranking released by Sportico, the top 10 are Cristiano Ronaldo, Curry, British boxing champion Fury, Argentine football star Lionel Messi, NBA American star LeBron James, Brazilian football star Neymar, Ukrainian boxer Usyk, French football stars Karim Benzema and Mbappe and Spanish golf star Jon Lahm.

Five of the top 10 players are footballers, which shows that football is always the most watched sport in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo is at the top of the table because he earns a whopping $215 million a year to play for Saudi Arabian club Riyadh Victory.

Messi

Although Messi lags behind Ronaldo significantly in terms of annual salary, his endorsement income will be the highest in the world in 2024. Messi, who is tied with Ronaldo in football as a "peerless double", has an annual salary of $60 million for Miami International in the United States Professional League, which is significantly behind Ronaldo in terms of salary income, but Messi's endorsement income will rank first in the world in 2024, and he will receive $75 million, leading Ronaldo who ranks second with $45 million.

In terms of female athletes, the highest-paid in 2024 is American tennis star Gauff, who earns $30.4 million, and to be in the top 100 on this list, the minimum threshold is $37.5 million, and Gauff is still more than $7 million.

NBA Golden State Warriors first brother Curry

2024 Global Athlete Earnings Rankings (Top 10 only)
Rankings Sports Nationality Income (USD)
1 Cristiano Ronaldo, football, Portugal, 260 million
2 Curry, basketball, United States, 153.8 million
3 Fury, Boxing, UK 147 million
4 Messi, football, Argentina 135 million
5 LeBron James, basketball, 133.2 million in the United States
6 Neymar, football, Brazil 133 million
7 Usyk, boxing, Ukraine 122 million
8 Benzema, football, France 116 million
9 Mbappe, football, France 111 million
10 Jon Lahm, Golf, Spain 100580