Sports today are more than just a competitive physical activity. The most popular sports in the world such as football/soccer, basketball, cricket, American football, tennis, boxing, MMA, baseball and so on, are organized within highly profitable leagues which form multi-billion industries. These leagues attract The top performing professional athletes in the most popular sports therefore also get to earn a lot of money these days.
Salaries of millions of dollars per year or even month have become the norm. Athletes can usually even earn more by special performance bonuses as well as various sponsorship or endorsement deals. Of course they are also free to invest their money into different kind of business and ventures. The possible income streams for athletes are, as you can see, very wide nowadays.
It should therefore be no surprise that the top professional athletes belong to the richest people within society. While they’re not anywhere near the Top 10 of the richest people in the world, their net worth sometimes do match those of many rich CEOs and businessmen, at least as long their sports career is still active.
The following ranking lists the currently Top 10 Richest Athletes in the world. The ranking is based on the net worth of all currently active professional athletes around the globe. All sports are considered here and both male and female athletes are accounted for. Though, spoiler alert, only one female currently makes it into this ranking of the 10 richest athletes in the world…..
The 10 Richest Athletes in the World 2020
1. Tiger Woods
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. LeBron James
4. Roger Federer
5. Lionel Messi
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Novak Djokovic
8. Serena Williams
9. Neymar Junior
10. Tom Brady
The 10 Richest Athletes in the World 2020
(as of August 2020)
| Top 10 Richest Athletes in the World: |
|---|
| 1. TIGER WOODS (Golf) Net worth: ~ $800 million |
| 2. CRISTIANO RONALDO (Football/Soccer) Net worth: ~$520 million |
| 3. LEBRON JAMES (Basketball) Net worth: ~ $480 million |
| 4. ROGER FEDERER (Tennis) Net worth: ~ $450 million |
| 5. LIONEL MESSI (Football/Soccer) Net worth: ~ $420 million |
| 6. LEWIS HAMILTON (F1 Racing) Net worth: ~ $280 million |
| 7. NOVAK DJOKOVIC (Tennis) Net worth: ~ $220 million |
| 8. SERENA WILLIAMS (Tennis) Net worth: ~ $200 million |
| 9. NEYMAR JUNIOR (Football/Soccer) Net worth: ~ $190 million |
| 10. TOM BRADY (American Football) Net worth: ~ $180 million |
The 10 Richest Athletes in the World based on estimated net worth in U.S. Dollars.
Only currently active athletes are included in the ranking.