Fame and fabulous fees. Who are the top ten richest athletes in history?

Big sport has long been an area in which large sums are invested. Tremendous money is spent on equipment, organizing competitions, transfers, building stadiums and, of course, athletes’ fees. By the way, the last payments are multiplied thanks to advertising contracts and deals with sponsors. Who of the athletes has earned the most in history? “Championship” decided to find the answer to this question. We hope the numbers won’t make you dizzy.

10. Magic Johnson

Sport: basketball.
Amount: $ 600 million.

Back in 1981, Magic signed a $25 million contract with the Lakers, which was a record at the time. However, after his career ended, Johnson got even richer. Earned money as a basketball player, he invested in a number of businesses. Including bought about 5% of the Lakers, and also invested in movie theaters, fitness clubs, restaurants and even his own satellite channel.

9. Roger Federer

Sport: tennis.
Amount: $ 640 million.

He has received over 100 million in prize money, but more importantly, Federer has already become a luxury brand himself. Rolex, Mercedes, Moet & Chandon, Lindt cooperate with him, and until 2018 the main outfitter of the athlete was Nike. After that, the tennis player signed a contract with Uniqlo. It was reported that Roger will receive from the Japanese brand $ 300 million for 10 years. True, then there was information that only $ 100 million. And this is despite the fact that Federer will soon finish his career.

8. Lionel Messi

Sport: soccer.
Amount: $ 750 million.

Messi is the highest paid soccer player in the world. According to Forbes, the captain of Barcelona receives $ 92 million a year on his latest contract. And this is only from the club, and there are also advertising agreements. In principle, Leo could support some club from the Spanish championship.

7. Cristiano Ronaldo

Sport: soccer.
Amount: $ 800 million.

Ronaldo receives less from Juventus: $ 65 million – salary with bonuses. But he works better with sponsors. The Portuguese is the leader in the number of followers on Instagram and Facebook. Only last year he earned $ 49 million on his account. Add here a contract with Nike for 10 years, under which Cristiano receives either $ 18 million a year (according to Football Leaks), or $ 24 million (according to The Sunday Times).

6. Tiger Woods

Sport: golf.
Amount: $800 million.

He doesn’t even need to play in tournaments all the time, which is something that can’t be said for Messi and Ronaldo. The most famous golfer in the world earns more from advertising than from sports. Since 2002, he has remained the highest paid athlete in the world for 10 years. In his best years, Woods made over $100 million a year.

5. Floyd Mayweather

Sport: boxing.
Amount: $ 915 million.

The highest paid athlete of the last decade. Just to understand: Mayweather earned $ 275 million in one night, when the fight with McGregor took place. This is more than Messi, Ronaldo and LeBron James in the same year 2017 – $ 259 million for the three of them. In 2015, Floyd received $ 240 million after beating Pacquiao. Here it is already inappropriate to talk about $ 30 million earned on advertising for his entire career, according to Forbes estimates.

4. Michael Schumacher

Sport: motorsport (Formula 1).
Amount: $ 1 billion.

Schumacher’s fortune is now estimated at a smaller amount, but at its peak it reached a billion. Schumacher earned $50 million a year, even when he was not racing. He was paid $10 million a year by Shell just for wearing a cap with the company’s logo.

3. Ion Cyriac

Sport: tennis.
Amount: $ 1.2 billion.

Tsiriak created this fortune through entrepreneurship, not tennis. Although sports was the first stage of his business. After the end of his career, he managed the financial affairs of another tennis player, Ilie Nastase, was an intermediary for Boris Becker’s contracts with clothing brands, and helped many other athletes, including Marat Safin. Ion then opened a bank, invested in an insurance company, car dealerships, airlines and the energy sector. He also created Romania’s first sports channel.

2. Michael Jordan

Sport: basketball.
Amount: $ 2.1 billion.

Jordan didn’t make much money directly from basketball. More money was brought to him by advertising. Especially the collaboration with Nike and the creation of the Nike Jordan brand, which dominates the market of basketball shoes in the United States. Separately it is worth saying that in 2010 Michael bought shares of the club “Charlotte”, and in 2013 brought the share to 90%. Now the team is worth about a billion dollars.

1. Vince McManus

Sport: wrestling.
Amount: $ 3.2 billion.

He was a professional wrestler and then promoted the sport to an incredible level. In the early 20th century, it seemed that the interest of viewers in fights, where wrestling is combined with work for the public, had gone away. McManus restarted tournaments, becoming the CEO and head of the board of WWE, a company that handles wrestling shows around the world, as well as movies, music, clothing and computer games. Vince created interest in wrestling and then monetized it.