Through this year the world's best athletes have been under the radar due to their on the field performance, but overall the constant is the salary they get paid to play their sports. In this case, the renowned magazine Forbes revealed their 50-athlete list that ranks each athlete by their current earnings that Lionel Messi and LeBron James lead.
Among the list, there are 35 U.S. athletes from basketball, going through golf, boxing, and football. In fact, four of the top five U.S. highest-paid athletes are playing in the NBA. Also, there are only three NFL players among this top tier of the United States.
According to this 50-athlete list, there are only two women among the highest-paid this year. The only two are tennis players, one of them is the retired Serena Williams, and the other one is the Japanese athlete Naomi Osaka, who surprisingly didn't won any Grand Slam this year.
The world's top 10 highest-paid athletes in 2022
Forbes published an article revealing who were the top 10 highest-paid athletes over the last 12 months. The first place is holded by Lionel Messi, followed by LeBron James, and in third place is Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar is fourth, Stephen Curry fifth, Kevin Durant sixth, Roger Federer seventh, Canelo Alvarez sixth, Tom Brady ninth, and Giannis Antetokounmpo tenth.
As a whole, the world’s ten highest-paid athletes pocketed $991.6 million over the last 12 months. Off the field, the top ten athletes hauled in an estimated $500 million from endorsements, appearances, memorabilia, and licensing fees, as well as the cash returns from businesses they operate and equity stakes they sold.
This list doesn't take into account several endorsments deals that could have been sealed in the late part of this year, as well as recent renewal contracts between athletes and their teams in each case necessary. However, there could multiple last-minute changes that were not taken as well.
