Lionel Messi is arguably the best player that the game of soccer has ever seen with the Argentine completing his trophy cabinet by winning the World Cup a few months ago. Messi has a huge following which means that the earnings he makes on and off the field are surely better than most.
Messi is one of the highest earners in the game of football along with his rival Cristiano Ronaldo and teammates Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappe all of whom have vast fan bases and consequently bag huge endorsement deals.
Lionel Messi has made over a billion dollars
Lionel Messi became only the second soccer player ever to earn a billion through soccer and other endorsements in 2020 after his rival Cristiano breached the mark earlier in 2019 when he played for Juventus.
Cristiano Ronaldo earned $105 million in the past year, landing him at No. 4 on the 2020 Forbes #Celeb100 list, one spot above Lionel Messi—and making him the first soccer player in history to earn $1 billion https://t.co/QVNG43uqFw pic.twitter.com/YnuvRHxDOX
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 4, 2020
The two have been headlining the game of soccer for more than a decade and subsequently gained a huge fan following which made them the highest earners of the game.
What is Lionel Messi’s net worth?
Lionel Messi has been the ambassador of many brands such as PEPSI which has made him earn lots of money while he has also been one of the top earners in soccer while he was in Barcelona and the same is true for his time with PSG.
Messi’s net worth is reported to be around a huge $600 million most of which he has earned through his whopping wages while the rest of it has been earned through various off-field activities.
8. Lionel Messi (Football, net worth: $600 million) pic.twitter.com/DI6yZYCdSE
— Dr. Cyril ➐ 🔰🏴 (@cyril__kay) March 11, 2022
So the answer to the question of Messi being a billionaire is a ‘no’ as his net worth is under a billion but his earnings going over $1 billion were misread by some outlets and declared him a billionaire.
Where does Lionel Messi rank in the highest-paid athlete of all time list?
While Messi is surely one of the highest-paid soccer players of all time it has to be seen where he ranks among players from other sports. Lionel Messi ranks at 7 in the list of highest-paid athletes of all time with his earnings reported to be around $1.48 billion.
Michael Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all time—and the gap is growing.
Top 50: https://t.co/XnqWMfnT4a pic.twitter.com/egiYp4898l
— Sportico (@Sportico) March 7, 2023
The name on the top of the list and highest-paid athlete of all time is the NBA legend, Micheal Jordan, with a total earning of $3.3 billion and is followed by golfers, Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer, at number two and three respectively.
Is Cristiano Ronaldo richer than Lionel Messi?
The two legends of the game have dominated the game on the field for a long time but the question about their earnings off the field and the winner there remains unanswered.
The comparison of the net worth of the two stars is really difficult because both have earned a lot of money over the years but it seems that Cristiano has edged past Messi with a net worth of around $1.58 billion and ranks above Messi at 5th in the list of highest paid athletes of all time.
