Portuguese soccer famous person Cristiano Ronaldo topped the earnings listing in 2024, taking the primary place on Sportico’s top-paid athletes listing with a whopping $260 million. His record-breaking earnings comprised the $215 million from his Al-Nassr contract and worldwide obligation with Portugal, in addition to $45 million in endorsements.
At the age of 40, Ronaldo continues to defy age, scoring 82 targets in 90 video games for Al-Nassr since arriving on the Saudi Pro League. His match-winning performances additionally made him the first-ever participant to succeed in 900 profession targets in Sept. 2023.
Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletes of 2024
Ronaldo was not the one footballer to capitalize on Saudi Arabia’s high-paying contracts. Neymar and Karim Benzema additionally featured within the prime 10 following their transfers to the Middle East. Neymar, nonetheless, has since returned to Brazil’s Santos FC, in line with CNN.
Here is how the highest 5 positioned:
Cristiano Ronaldo – $260M ($215M wage/winnings, $45M endorsements)
Stephen Curry – $153.8M ($53.8M wage/winnings, $100M endorsements)
Tyson Fury – $147M ($140M wage/winnings, $7M endorsements)
Lionel Messi – $135M ($60M wage/winnings, $75M endorsements)
LeBron James – $133.2M ($48.2M wage/winnings, $85M endorsements)
Even although the Golden State Warriors had a disappointing NBA season, Stephen Curry continued to be a global icon, courtesy of Team USA’s Paris Olympic gold medal.
Meanwhile, the NBA star-turned-flop Ben Simmons is the one Australian on the listing, in line with MSN.
NFL’s Top Earners: Dak Prescott Leads the Way
Among NFL gamers, the highest-paid was Dak Prescott, who made $100.4 million to rank twelfth. Jalen Hurts, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl LIX win, ranked sixty fifth with $46.1 million.
Women Did Not Make the Cut within the Top 100 List
Even with the booming reputation of ladies’s sports activities, girls athletes had been absent from Sportico’s prime 100. Coco Gauff, the top-paid feminine athlete of 2024, earned $30.4 million, thanks largely to her French Open doubles championship and WTA Finals singles title.
To put that in perspective, the A hundredth-ranked participant, NFL quarterback Daniel Jones earned $37.5 million, which is greater than Gauff.
At 20 years outdated, Gauff turned the youngest Team USA flag bearer within the Olympics and the primary tennis star to be given the privilege.
The highest-paid 100 athletes span eight sports activities and 27 nations and collectively earned $6.2 billion in 2024. This quantity contains $4.8 billion from wage and prizes and $1.4 billion from sponsorships.
Are Women’s Sports Really Undervalued and Unappreciated?
On the r/sports activities subreddit, some Redditors are comfortable to see their favourite athletes within the prime 100. However, it is vital to notice that different customers wish to see extra girls on the listing. They really feel that there is an inequality taking place within the sports activities business.
“I’m all for equal pay and female professional athletes being paid more. The problem is women sports draw like 1/100 the viewership of male sports, so they generate far less revenue,” one Redditor wrote.
“It’s quite sad but we could always look at the top 100 onlyfans earners and the pendulum swings the other way,” one other Reddit person mentioned.
While it is unhappy to see no feminine athletes, we also needs to consider that even some girls do not watch girls’s sports activities, identical to one other individual mentioned.
“Yeaaaaah…. Nobody cares about women’s sports. Even women don’t watch women’s sports.”
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