Ronaldo became the highest paid footballer of 2025

Cristiano Ronaldo, the forward of the Portuguese national team and the Al-Nasr football club from Saudi Arabia, topped the list of the highest-paid football players. This follows from the rating published by Forbes magazine.

According to the magazine, Ronaldo earns $280 million, most of which is salary and bonuses for games.

"This is an amazing figure <... This gives him the first place among the highest—paid football players in the world for the sixth time in the last decade," the publication says.

The second place was taken by the reigning world champion and forward of FC Inter Miami Lionel Messi, who earned $ 130 million. French striker Karim Benzema from Saudi FC Al-Itihada rose to third place with an income of $104 million.

The quadruple payment is red: how Kondratyuk became the highest paid figure skater in the world

Russian athletes earn at the level of foreigners despite international isolation

On April 22, the portal Sportico reported that Argentine football player Lionel Messi took fifth place in the list of the highest-paid athletes in history, having earned $1.85 billion in his career, adjusted for inflation. Basketball player Michael Jordan, who earned $4.15 billion, became the winner of the rating by a margin of almost 1.5 times from the second place.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.