Who are the top earning players in the world’s highest paid sport? We’ve ranked the top earners in popular leagues to bring you the Footy 100.
Compare how many houses the highest paid footballers in each league could buy outright every year. Insert your own home’s value to calculate how many they could purchase.
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Enter your house value:
*Default is set to the UK average of £235,000
Lionel Messi FC Barcelona
Earns £70,000,000 Annually
Neymar Paris Saint-Germain
Earns £57,000,000 Annually
Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus
Earns £50,000,000 Annually
Antoine Griezmann FC Barcelona
Earns £39,000,000 Annually
Eden Hazard Real Madrid
Earns £26,600,000 Annually
* Income does not include earnings from sponsorships, click here for total income
How quickly do the highest paid stars from each sport earn your salary? Compare their earnings to find out who makes the most from their wages and who earns the most in endorsements.
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*Default is set to the UK average of £30,420
Lionel Messi earns your wage in
Sports income: £70,000,000, Endorsements: £27,000,000
Canelo Alvarez earns your wage in
Sports income: £70,500,000, Endorsements: £1,500,000
Roger Federer earns your wage in
Sports income: £5,600,000, Endorsements: £66,000,000
Russell Wilson earns your wage in
Sports income: £61,000,000, Endorsements: £7,000,000
LeBron James earns your wage in
Sports income: £27,000,000, Endorsements: £40,000,000
Tiger Woods earns your wage in
Sports income: £7,500,000, Endorsements: £41,000,000
Lewis Hamilton earns your wage in
Sports income: £34,000,000, Endorsements: £8,000,000
Mike Trout earns your wage in
Sports income: £36,300,000, Endorsements: £2,300,000
Conor McGregor earns your wage in
Sports income: £24,000,000, Endorsements: £11,000,000
Virat Kohli earns your wage in
Sports income: £3,000,000, Endorsements: £16,000,000
Johan Sundstein earns your wage in
Sports income: £5,300,000, Endorsements: £0
Dan Carter earns your wage in
Sports income: £1,100,000, Endorsements: £0
Compare the salaries of some common occupations with the highest paid players from popular sports. See if you can spot where the top earning female athlete stands.
Insert your annual household income to compare a mortgage available to you with a loan for a property that Lionel Messi could afford.
Compare a typical mortgage for your annual household salary to the highest paid footballer below:
(That’s a mortgage)
(That’s a mortgage)
It would take you a total of years to pay off a mortgage available to Lionel Messi. That’s lifetimes.
Even saving for the deposit would take you , or .
a. Assumes a 15% deposit, a 35 year mortgage term, a 2.5% interest rate and a 4.5X income multiple. In reality a sportsperson may have access to private lenders so could borrow more whereas some brits, depending on their circumstances, may not be able to borrow as much as 4.5X their income.
b. If sole trader or partnership, put down the average of last 3 years’ sa302 tax returns. Some lenders will accept 1 or 2 years’ so add that if it applies to you. If limited company director, lenders will base it on your combines salary and dividends. A small handful will also base it on your share of retained profits if you own over x% shares in the company.
c. Figures based on the average life expectancy of somebody born in the UK in 1990 (source = world bank)
d. In reality, an ‘ordinary person’ wouldn’t even be able to afford anywhere near 1 months worth of interest alone. In this case, Messi pays in interest alone each month. So we’ve rolled the total amount paid (interest and repayments) up at the end of Messi’s term and calculated to total amount of monthly repayments at current repayment amounts.