When it comes to measuring the greatest players in the world’s most beautiful game, the focus inevitably turns to a pair of rivals with household names and exclusive claims to being the only team-sport athletes to earn $1 billion during their careers. It may be time to make room for a third.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo top this year’s Forbes ranking of the highest-paid soccer players once again, after Messi resolved a weeks-long contract drama to land the top spot with $126 million, nudging out Juventus’ Ronaldo, who comes in at No. 2 with $117 million. But soccer fans have a new object of fascination in Kylian Mbappe, the Paris Saint-Germain striker who lands in fourth place with $48 million.
It took FC Barcelona 105 years to win 64 trophies before Messi joined in 2005. In the past 16 years, he’s led the team to 34 trophy wins, a performance that has landed his name among the sport’s greats—and earned him $1 billion in pretax career earnings. This year, he dragged the soccer world through weeks of cliffhanger drama as he fought with the club about playing out the final year of his contract. He stayed, and stands to collect $92 million for doing so, but Messi Watch 2021 is in full force, with all eyes peeled for clues as to where he will turn up next.
Read the more on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2020/09/14/the-worlds-highest-paid-soccer-players-2020-messi-wins-mbappe-rises/?sh=1c53b3db1cff
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2020/08/21/the-next-billion-dollar-athlete-lionel-messi-closes-in/?sh=6d55c0517947
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