Barcelona’s Argentine star Lionel Messi was the most talked about player in the off-field this season. This time he came up with a new discussion. The Barca captain has joined the billionaire club as the second player in football history.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese star of Juventus, was named the first footballer in the history of the billionaire club in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak. According to Forbes, his income from various sectors of the sports sector is one billion dollars or more.
The Argentine star is the highest-earning player in 2020, according to the Forbes ranking. Messi has earned $126 million this year from the club’s salary bonus and various sponsors. That is why, the Barca captain has set an example of earning billions of dollars as the second footballer in all.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner’s biggest share of the revenue comes from sporting goods manufacturers Adidas and the beverage company Pepsi. Messi also earns a lot from the Budweiser beer company. Above all, he is the highest earner this year.
Ronaldo has made the second highest income this year. The Juventus star has earned $117 million this season. After that, PSG’s Brazilian star Neymar has earned more. In all, his income is $96 million. His teammate Kylian Mbappe is in fourth place with an income of $42 million. Then Mohamed Salah of Liverpool earned $37 million.
It is to be noted that apart from Ronaldo and Messi, the world has seen billionaires in sports before. Golf legend Tiger Woods is the first to join the elite club. He joined the billion dollar club in 2009. Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather signed for the club in 2016 after a 13-year career.
Also, according to Business Insider, tennis star Roger Federer’s earnings will touch billions of dollars by the end of this year. And then he will be the first tennis player in history to sign up for this elite club. Basketball legend Michael Jordan has also made more than a billion dollars. But he could not enter the club as he could not earn billions of dollars while continuing the game.
