NEW YORK – June 11, 2019 – Forbes today released its annual ranking of the World’s 100 Highest-Paid athletes, who collectively earned $4 billion over the last 12 months, up 5% from last year’s earnings of $3.8 billion. Lionel Messi was named the world’s highest-paid athlete for the first time, up from second place last year, with $127 million in total earnings. Cost of admission to the 2019 list is the highest ever at $25 million, up $2.1 million from the previous year. “The global impact of soccer is clearly reflected in earnings in 2019, with the top three athletes on the list being Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar,” said Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor, Forbes Media. There are 25 different countries represented on this year’s World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list, up from 22 in 2018.

Source: Forbes June 11, 2019 12:00 UTC