If Cristiano Ronaldo (36) pushes a few soft drink bottles out of the picture at a press conference, it almost makes for more headlines than a missed big opportunity. The Coca-Cola group was undoubtedly not happy about Ronaldo’s clean-up on the podium, and even the beverage giant’s share price dropped a little on the spur of the moment.
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No wonder: The influence of sports stars on the fans is enormous, and Cristiano Ronaldo is without a doubt one of the greatest of his guild, not only on the pitch, but also as an influencer. In fact, Ronaldo is not only the player with the highest annual income among the active players at this European Championship, but also with the biggest sponsorship deals. With a total income of 120 million dollars a year (the equivalent of around 100 million euros), the Portuguese is behind the martial artist, according to “Forbes” Conor McGregor (32 years old, $ 180 million annual earnings) as well as his arch-rival Lionel Messi (34 years old, $ 130 million) ranks third in the current ranking of the world’s highest paid sports stars.
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Far ahead: Cristiano Ronaldo is a top earner
“Forbes” puts Ronaldo’s income at Juventus at the equivalent of $ 70 million. The striker earns another 50 million dollars with advertising and the like, although Coca-Cola is obviously not one of his financiers (Ronaldo did a commercial for the brown sugar drink, but that was a long time ago). The currently most important advertising partners of “CR7” are instead: Nike (where Ronaldo has reportedly signed a lifetime contract, but nothing official has been published about the fee), Castrol, Armani and Tag Heuer. In addition, Ronaldo markets his own underwear line under the label “CR7” and now also other products.
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Kylian Mbappé in second place: young star as a tragic figure
However, the many millions of euros did not save Ronaldo from the comparatively early elimination from the European Championship – a fate that he shares with the runners-up in the ranking of high earners. The French star striker follows in second place in the ranking Kylian Mbappé (22), the tragic figure in the French defeat of the last 16 against Switzerland in Bucharest on Monday. Mbappé has a total income of 40 million dollars a year, according to Forbes, about 26 million from his club Paris St. Germain and another 14 million from sponsors. In addition to Nike, these include, for example, the watch brand Hublot and the computer games company EA Sports, which has put the exceptional player on the cover of the popular game “Fifa 21”.
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Paul Pogba in 3rd place: midfield star in the service of ManU and Adidas
A Frenchman is also in third place in the ranking: Paul pogba (28). He also took a bottle out of the picture a few days ago at the EM at a press conference in Munich, in this case it was non-alcoholic beer from Heineken. Coca-Cola would hardly have liked Pogba on the podium either – the Manchester United star is under contract with competitor Pepsi. Further deals, for example with Adidas or the Chinese tech group TCL, recently brought him seven million dollars, according to “Forbes”. Together with his income at Manchester United (ManU), Pogba’s earnings add up to $ 35.5 million.
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World footballer in 4th place: Robert Lewandowski
Pole follows in fourth place among the highest-paid EM players Robert Lewandowski. The 32-year-old world footballer is the top earner at his club FC Bayern Munich with an estimated annual salary of 23 million euros – and with around 20 million followers on Instagram, he is also the social media king of the German champions. In addition, there are around six million euros in advertising revenue per year: Nike, Huawei and Gilette are among Lewandowski’s top advertising partners. In terms of salary, the top striker is not yet in the same league as Cristiano Ronaldo, but at least when it comes to marketing, “Lewi” is following in the footsteps of “CR7”. Lewandowski sells its own coffee brand under the “RL9” logo.
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5th place: Antoine Griezmann – contract with Huawei terminated
Antoine Griezmann made it into the top 5 of this European Championship as the third Frenchman. The 30-year-old French world champion from 2018 is one of the top earners at FC Barcelona with an estimated 24 million euros per year – but his earnings are still well behind superstar Lionel Messi, who earns around three times as much. In addition, there are around 4.2 million euros per year through sponsorship deals: The ten-year contract with Nike alone should bring Griezmann around three million euros per year.
Griezmann caused a stir in December 2020 when he terminated his advertising contract with the Chinese telecom group Huawei – in protest against the oppression of the Uyghurs. A problem for Huawei, especially since the French striker with 31 million followers on Instagram also has the necessary social media weight. The loss of Huawei funds will easily get over Griezmann, whose fortune is estimated at 40 million euros. With “Grizi Esports” the world champion also wants to make money from the e-sports boom. The unexpected elimination in the round of 16 against Switzerland is likely to be more painful for Griezmann.
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