Top earners
These are the highest paid athletes in the world
– Conor McGregor cashes the most among sports superstars on the planet © John Gurzinski / AFP
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Many professional athletes receive huge amounts of money for the practice of their sport. Nevertheless, some of them earn extra income off the field that clearly exceeds their sporting income.
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Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor is currently the highest paid athlete – the Irishman has earned around 180 million US dollars since May 2020. The remaining podium places are occupied by Lionel Messi (130 million US dollars) and Cristiano Ronaldo (120 million US dollars), two footballers like them Statista graphic shows. The third soccer player in the top 10 is Neymar – the Brazilian stands behind quarterback Dak Prescott (108 million US dollars) and NBA star LeBron James (97 million US dollars) from the USA with around 95 million US dollars.
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Last year’s top earner, Roger Federer, had revenues of around 90 million US dollars last year – according to Forbes, the Swiss only earned around 30,000 US dollars on the tennis court, and most of his income came from advertising deals. McGregor, James, and Durant’s greatest sources of income are also outside of their work as athletes. While the two basketball players are making a mess with their own sneaker line at Nike, the martial artist cashes in through various advertising appearances and his own whiskey brand.
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