Cristiano Ronaldo Tops Forbes’ Highest-Paid Athletes List For The Fifth Time (image-instagram/cristiano)

For the fifth time, football legend Cristiano Ronaldo topped the Forbes list of highest-paid athletes. This is the third consecutive time the Portugal player topped the list, surpassing Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and British boxer Tyson Fury.

Ronaldo had increased his estimated total earnings from $15 million to $275 million. This figure was only surpassed by former world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, who had earned $300m in 2015 and $275m in 2018. The Portugal star had moved to the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr club in December 2022. Apart from the football fields, Ronaldo had built greater income through off-field endorsements and sponsorship deals backed by his social media followers, which currently total 939 million.

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Golden State Warriors guard Curry, who became the first NBA player to reach 4,000 career three-pointers in March, climbs up to second after earning $156 million. British boxer Tyson moved to third with $146 million despite losing his heavyweight titles to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in December.

Lionel Messi, meanwhile, had dropped from third to fifth after earning $135 million, the same as last year after moving to Inter Miami. France striker Karim Benzema, who plays for Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, is eighth with earnings of $104 million.

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World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2025

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, football: $275m (£206.6m)

2. Stephen Curry, basketball: $156m (£117.2m)

3. Tyson Fury, boxing: $146m (£109.7m)

4. Dak Prescott, American football: $137m (£103m)

5. Lionel Messi, football: $135m (£101.4m)

6. LeBron James, basketball: $133.8m (£105.5m)

7. Juan Soto, baseball: $114m (£85.7m)

8. Karim Benzema, football: $104m (£78.2m)

9. Shohei Ohtani, baseball: $102.5m (£77m)

10. Kevin Durant, basketball: $101.4m (£76.2m)