Cristiano Ronaldo tops Forbes’ 2025 highest-paid athletes list with $275M, ahead of Tyson Fury and Stephen Curry, while Lionel Messi drops to fifth place

No soccer players made more money than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in 2025. Although the next generation of superstars, including Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé, have taken center stage in soccer this year,

Cristiano Ronaldo once again claimed the top spot on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in his career. According to Forbes, the Portuguese football icon earned an estimated USD275 million over the past year.