Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible salary at Al Nasr has ensured he is the world’s highest-paid athlete , with the Portuguese superstar beating Lionel Messi and Patrick Mahomes to the top spot in the Top 100.

Cristiano Ronaldo tops the Top 100 thanks to his salary of 175 million pounds per year at Al Nassr. Ronaldo is one of football ‘s biggest superstars and has earned a huge salary since moving to Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Pro League last January.

However, not only salary has brought Cristiano Ronaldo to the top of the list of the Top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world announced by Sportico. Ronaldo also has many advertising contracts, including Nike, Armani and Tag Heuer.

As a result, Cristiano Ronaldo earned a whopping £218 million in 2023, putting him at the top of the list of rich athletes. Ronaldo earned £57 million more than the second-placed man on the list, European Ryder Cup hero Jon Rahm.

The Spaniard recently joined the LIV Golf tour, after winning The Masters and Ryder Cup throughout 2023. Those victories ensured Jon Rahm took home earnings of £161 million and finished second. in the Top 100 list.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s formidable rival Lionel Messi was beaten to second place by Rahm, with the World Cup champion in third place. Lionel Messi pocketed £103 million in 2023, including a salary of £52 million per year at Inter Miami, meaning Ronaldo has more than double the income of Messi in 2023.

Ronaldo received the highest salary in football history when joining Al Nassr. PHOTO: GETTY

Ranked fourth is NBA’s brightest face LeBron James, who is paid a salary of about 36 million pounds by the LA Lakers. Huge advertising contracts have put LeBron James in the Top 5, with a 2023 income of more than 99 million pounds.

The third football player in the Top 5 is PSG and France superstar Kylian Mbappe, who is preparing to join Real Madrid in the summer. Mbappe was paid about £80 million by the Ligue 1 champions, with other contracts bringing Mbappe’s total income in 2023 to £99.2 million.

Mbappe’s former teammate at PSG, Neymar, is in sixth place after moving to Saudi Arabia to play for Al Hilal last summer. The Brazilian player is currently sidelined for a long time due to injury but still earns £96 million in 2023.

The bottom half of the Top 10 is dominated by NBA stars. Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors topped that group, earning £78.5m, to finish seventh in the Top 100. The remaining athletes in the Top 10 were Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks (£70m) and Kevin Durant of Phoenix Suns (£68m) and the highest paid player in the NFL is Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs (£67m).

The first Premier League player named on the list is Erling Haaland when Man City’s Norwegian star earned £50 million last year, ranking 18th on the Top 100 list.