Cristiano Ronaldo Becomes Footballs First Billionaire and Tops Forbes Richest Players List Once More

The Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo has secured the top position on Forbes list of the highest earning footballers for the 2025-26 season, joining two other players from the top 10 who are currently based in Saudi Arabia.

This achievement represents the sixth instance over the past ten years where Ronaldo has led the Forbes rankings, occurring soon after Bloomberg confirmed that the 40 year old has achieved billionaire status as the first in football history.

Through a combination of on pitch salaries and off pitch income totalling around $280 million, Ronaldo at Al Nassr is projected to out earn second placed competitor Lionel Messi by more than twice the amount. Messis expected $130 million largely stems from sponsorship deals, exceeding his wages from playing for Inter Miami in the United States.

Following them is the French ex Ballon dOr recipient Karim Benzema, who commands $104 million annually due to his substantial agreement with Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

The third representative from Saudi leagues in the top 10 is Senegals Sadio Mane, Ronaldeos colleague at Al Nassr, who is anticipated to receive $54 million placing him eighth.

Compared to last year, the count of top 10 earners from Saudi teams has decreased by one, since Brazilian Neymar departed Al Hilal in January to rejoin his formative club Santos in Sao Paulo.

Neymar previously held third spot with $110 million in the 2024-25 period, yet now his income appears to be just $38 million, primarily from commercial agreements.

Even with the financial strength and spending prowess of the English Premier League, where teams invested a record £2.6 billion or $3.5 billion on transfers during the summer, only two participants from this league appear in the top 10: Manchester Citys Erling Haaland in fifth and Liverpools Mohamed Salah in seventh.

However, Spains La Liga boasts the largest number of top 10 entries, featuring three from Real Madrid namely Kylian Mbappe in fourth, Vinicius Jr in sixth, and Jude Bellingham in ninth.

The additional Spanish player is Barcelonas young prodigy Lamine Yamal, who rounds out the list at tenth with $43 million.

Forbes noted that the ten top earning footballers globally are forecasted to collectively amass about $945 million over the 2025-26 season.