Forbes Rankings: Lionel Messi becomes highest paid athlete in the world

Barcelona’s star forward, Lionel Messi has been crowned as the highest paid athlete by Forbes, in its latest rankings of 100 Highest-paid athletes around the world.

The ranking which is done annually, also revealed that the 100 athletes featured in the list, earned a whopping sum of $4 billion between last year and now cumulatively, beating the total of $3.8 billion recorded previously.

Messi defeated the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Federer, LeBron James, after earning the sum of £99.8million through his salary and other endorsements.

See the list of the top ten below.
Rank    Athlete              Sport    Salary/Winnings £ ($)    Endorsements  £ ($)    Total Earnings £ ($)

1    Lionel Messi               Soccer    72.3m (92m)    27.5m (35m)    99.8m (127m)

2    Cristiano Ronaldo    Soccer    51.1m (65m)    34.6m (44m)    85.7m (109m)

3    Neymar                        Soccer    58.9m (75m)    23.6m (30m)    82.5m (105m)

4    Canelo Alvarez        Boxing    72.3m (92m)    1.6m (2m)    73.9m (94m)

5    Roger Federer          Tennis    5.8m (7.4m)    67.6m (86m)    73.4m (93.4m)

6    Russell Wilson       Football    63.2m (80.5m)    7m (9m)    70.3m (89.5m)

7    Aaron Rodgers       Football    63.1m (80.3m)    7m (9m)    70.2m (89.3m)

8    LeBron James     Basketball    28.3m (36m)    41.7m (53m)    70m (89m)

9    Stephen Curry    Basketball    29.7m (37.8m)    33m (42m)    62.7m (79.8)

10    Kevin Durant    Basketball    23.9m (30.4m)    27.5m (35m)    51.4m (65.4m)

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