Following another stellar year in his career, World Cup winner Lionel Messi is at the top of Forbes’ list of the highest-paid sportsmen for 2022.
Unsurprisingly, American athletes dominated the top 20 on the list, with seven of those players being basketball players.
But only one female athlete is the top 20, despite the fact that women’s sport had another fantastic year.
Even though she has a skincare line and many other sponsors, tennis legend Naomi Osaka still finds time to excel on the court.
The majority of the money that athletes get comes from sponsorship deals rather than just their sport.
In contrast to Tom Brady, who has won the Super Bowl seven times, who has worked with a cryptocurrency and has started his own NFT platform, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry all run their own media businesses.
The highest-paid athlete in 2022 is Lionel Messi.
Despite taking a price cut to leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, Messi earned $130 million this year thanks to his massive sponsorship base.
Below are the highest-paid athletes of 2022?
Lionel Messi – Football – $130 million
LeBron James – Basketball – $121.2 million
Cristiano Ronaldo – Football – $115 million
Neymar – Football – $95 million
Stephen Curry – Basketball – $92.8 million
Kevin Durant – Basketball – $92.1 million
Roger Federer – Tennis – $90.7 million
Canelo Alvarez – Boxing – $90 million
Tom Brady – American Football – $83.9 million
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Basketball – $80.9 million
Russell Westbrook – Basketball – $79.2 million
James Harden – Basketball – $74.4 million
Matthew Stafford – American Football – $72.3 million
Aaron Rodgers – American Football – $68 million
Tiger Woods – Golf – $68 million
Josh Allen – American Football – $67 million
Lewis Hamilton – Motor Racing – $65 million
Tyson Fury – Boxing – $62 million
Naomi Osaka – Tennis – $59.2 million
Damian Lillard – Basketball – $57.4 million