The World's Highest-Paid Athletes

He may no longer be in his prime from a sporting perspective, but that doesn't stop Lionel Messi from cashing some large checks at the end of the month. According to Forbes' latest ranking, the Argentinian football wizard was the highest-paid athlete in the world over the past twelve months, raking in $130 million between May 1, 2021 and May 1, 2022.

Messi is joined by Lebron James and eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the $100 million club, with the rest of the top 8 earners all making between $90 and $95 million last year. Looking at on- versus off-the-field earnings yields quite different results depending on who you look at. While salaries and endorsement earnings roughly even out for most of this year's top earners, Roger Federer and Canelo Álvarez are notable exceptions.

While Roger Federer, who has barely touched a racket in the past year due to injuries, mad virtually all of his $91 million from its various sponsorship deals, Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez made just $5 million outside the ring and $85 million in it. In fact, Álvarez would have tied with Lionel Messi for first place, had the $40 million he reportedly netted for his May 7 loss to Dmitry Bivol not been just outside Forbes' tracking window.