Former Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is now established as the greatest of all time – in football earnings.

His estimated $231m in annual signing and endorsenents easily displaces PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, hitherto the top earner.

The windfall came from his weekend signing with a Saudi Arabia clubside, Al-Nassr FC.

Although sliding into the twilight of a stellar football career, the Saudi Club hailed the signing in a Tweet as “history in the making.”

Ironically, Manchester United terminated Ronaldo’s contract two months ago before he headed to the World Cup in Qatar.

Undaunted, the Portuguese goal merchant walks into a contract that makes him the highest earning athlete in the world.

Comparatively, Lionel Messi who took Argentina to his first World Cup win last month, earns a modest $110m per season.

The other Paris Saint-Germain star, Neymar earns $87m per season. Both Neymar and Messi however earn less than another teammate who is set to rule the world.

Mbappé, new kid on the block

Forbes estimates that Kylian Mbappe, the African-Frenchman on the same PSG team, will earn $128 million for the 2022-23 season.

Mbappé (right) with football legend Pelé

Quoting industry experts, Forbes said Mbappé collects roughly $110 million between his salary and a share of his signing bonus for this season.

“That is in addition to the estimated $18 million in annual endorsements Mbappé earns from a stable of partners that include Nike, Dior, Hublot, Oakley and Panini.”

Mbappe subsequently occupied the top spot since October 2022 but has now been overtaken by Ronaldo.

Before Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo used to own the top two spots, with the Argentinian maintaining a slight edge.

This January, Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia however catapults him from third to top dog in earnings.

Here is the current earnings position for 10 top footballers in the world at the beginning of year 2023.

1Cristiano RonaldoAl-Nassr$214m
2Kylian MbappéPSG$128m
3Lionel MessiPSG$110m
4NeymarPSG$87m
5Mohamed SalahLiverpool$53m
6Erling HaalandMan City$39m
7Robert LewandowskiBarcelona$35m
8Eden HazardReal Madrid$31m
9Andres IniestaVissel Kobe$30m
10Kevin De BruyneMan City$29m

Ronaldo is greatest in football earnings

Author

  • Ogbuagu Bob Anikwe is the publisher of Enugu Metro. He writes a well-received column for Enugu Metro (on Sundays) and the (Nigerian) Sun Newspaper every Thursday. Contact Bob through any of the channels below or send an SMS to +234 803 622-0298.

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