LONDON: The highest-earning sports star in the world is a footballer, with the financial rewards associated with athletic talent and brand endorsements surpassing those of any other sport, a new tool reveals.
Online Mortgage Advisor’s Footy 100 tool highlights how much football players across different leagues are paid, as well as comparing their earnings to other sports stars, including tennis, rugby and even eSports.
In its In the Pocket section, the tool reveals that Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the highest paid sports star in the world, with combined annual earnings of £97m/$126m. While Messi’s yearly salary of £70m/$91m may not be the highest on the list, football’s commercial appeal lands him an additional £27m/$35m in endorsements and advertising deals.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the sport’s recent box office records, boxing came out on top for the highest sporting salary, with Canelo Alvarez making £70.5m/$91.6m per year – just ahead of Messi.
Alvarez’s sponsorships, however, are worth just £1.5m/$1.9m, pushing him down to second place.
All stars
The tool highlights the highest earning player from each sport, creating a list of the top paying sports in the world.
The stars and their combined annual earnings are below:
Football: Lionel Messi – £97m/$126m
Boxing: Canelo Alvarez – £72m/$93.5m
Tennis: Roger Federer – £72m/$93.5m
NFL: Russell Wilson – £68m/$88m
Basketball: LeBron James – £67m/$87m
Golf: Tiger Woods – £48.5m/$63m
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton – £42m/$54.6m
Baseball: Mike Trout – £38.6m/$50m
MMA: Conor McGregor – £35m/$45.5m
Cricket: Virat Kohli – £19m/$24.7m
eSports: Johan Sundstein – £5.3m/$6.9m
Rugby: Dan Carter – £1.1m/$1.4m
While Alvarez has the highest wage on the list, it’s Roger Federer that walks away with the highest earnings from sponsorships, at £66m/$85.7m.
Even the top earners from basketball and golf – LeBron James and Tiger Woods respectively – earn more in endorsements than Messi, signalling a shift in the common belief that football is the most commercial sport in the world.
Women in sport
When it comes to the highest paid female athlete, tennis again leads the way. Serena Williams is the highest earning female sports star in the world, having made a combined £22m/$29m last year.
Compared to her male counterpart, however, she still slumps behind – Federer made £72m/$93.5m in the same period.
It’s in both wages and sponsorships that Williams loses out. Her salary of £3m/$3.9m is almost half of Federer’s £5.6m/$7.3m, while Williams’ endorsements of £19m/$24.7m are over three times less than Federer’s £66m/$85.7m.
Tennis may have created the highest earning female athlete in the world, but it has a long way to go in closing the gender pay gap.
Looking at female footballers is much starker, however. While the top earning male footballer, Messi, made £97m/$126m last year, Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg earned just £543,000/$705,000.
Her £343,000/$446,000 salary was over 200 lower than Messi’s, while his earnings from endorsements were 135 greater than Hegerberg’s.
