The World's Highest Paid Athletes List 2024
The top earner in sports for 2024 was one of the biggest names in football, Cristiano Ronaldo, with earnings totaling 260 million US dollars. Ronaldo also topped the list in 2023. There were no women in the top 50.
See also the Forbes top-earning lists from previous years.
Below is the top-10 of the highest earning sportspeople for 2024, taken from the annual list of the 50 highest-paid athletes published by Forbes magazine in June 2024.
Top-10 Highest Earning Sports people from 2024
| Rank | Name | Sport | Nationality | Earnings* ($ million) | Previous Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | Portugal | 260 | 1 |
| 2 | Jon Rahm | Golf | Spain | 218 | >10 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | Argentina | 135 | 2 |
| 4 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 128.2 | 4 |
| 5 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Basketball | Greece | 111 | >10 |
| 6 | Kylian Mbappe | Soccer | France | 120 | 3 |
| 7 | Neymar | Soccer | Brazil | 108 | >10 |
| 8 | Karim Benzema | Soccer | France | 106 | >10 |
| 9 | Stephen Curry | Basketball | USA | 102 | 8 |
| 10 | Lamar Jackson | American Football | USA | 100.5 | >10 |
* note: The earnings totals (in US dollars) are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months from May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024. Taxes or agents' fees are not factored into the figures.
Ronaldo topped the list for the fourth timeHighest Ranked For Each Sport in 2024
The highest ranked athlete from each sport in the top-50 is listed below. This year six different sports were represented on the list, and surprisingly there are no tennis players.
| Overall Rank | Name | Sport | earning ($ million) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | Portugal | 260 |
| 2 | Jon Rahm | Golf | Spain | 218 |
| 4 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 128.2 |
| 10 | Lamar Jackson | American Football | USA | 100.5 |
| 13 | Shohei Ohtani | Baseball | Japan | 85.3 |
| 14 | Canelo Alvarez | Boxing | Mexico | 85 |
| 17 | Max Verstappen | Auto Racing | Belgium | 81 |
source: The full list of the top-50 highest earners was published on the Forbes website in June 2024.
Related Pages
- See the top earning lists from other years.
- Sporting highlights for 2024
- Other world sport lists
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