Messi is sports world's highest earner: Forbes

I was a very good amateur player.  I got nothing but the joy of playing the game.  That will do me.

I don't know about other sports, but I was involved in tennis, and it is a very harsh career. Top 50 players earn a lot, top 100 decently, top 200 make a living. Below that, you can barely make ends meet. I am not sure what is the total number of (semi)professional players in the world, but if you think that only the top 200 players earn decently, it is a very tough career. And Federer is one of (or the) greatest player of all times, and for sure the most marketable, so it makes sense he dominates the earning lists

I think I remember seeing F1 drivers in the top 10 in the past. Have there been any changes in the finances of the sport, do they lack a superstar or is it just the other sports are paying more?

Good luck to the guy, image rights and branding, a genuine natural ability. There is little or nothing pretentious about the fellow.

Messi is a legend, a geniune all-time great. You run out of superlatives.

I think it's only recently that footballers have been paid more than every other sports star though. I don't think Ronaldinho or Brazilian Ronaldo were.

Don't mess with Messi!

I was a very good amateur player. I got nothing but the joy of playing the game. That will do me.

nothing like a bit of own trumpet blowing for the confidence.

that's a lot of millions for just sport players, i wonder how much an assassin earn if he sign a contract LUL

@koha, agree. I think it all started with the Bosman ruling in the mid 90s, then us/Chinese/Russian/ME investors got involved, massive tv deals followed and players value sky-rocketed.

Only fair that football/soccer players make more money than say NHL guys though. Very few ppl outside north Am know who Gretzky or Ovechkin are and even fewer would recognise them.

Only 1 woman on the list

Most of the earnings are thru endorsements

They should work to get more endorsements