Sportico has published a list of the world’s highest-paid athletes. LeBron James leads the men, while Naomi Osaka is the highest-paid woman.
The list includes representatives from 24 countries and 10 sports (36 basketball players, 25 rugby players, 13 footballers, 12 baseball players, 5 golfers, 3 boxers, 3 tennis players, 1 F1 driver, 1 cricketer and 1 mixed martial artist).
Last year’s list leader Conor McGregor dropped to 22nd place with $52,000,000 a year.
LeBron James is the world’s highest-paid athlete. In 2022, he earned $126.9 million.
Besides him, six other NBA players made the top 20 – Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets, James Harden of the Philadelphia Sixers, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Russell Westbrook of the LA Lakers and Golden State’s Klay Thompson.
The top five includes three players football players – Lionel Messi ($122 million), Cristiano Ronaldo ($115 million) and Neymar ($103 million).
The top five closed Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who earned $ 89 million.
Among the footballers, the list also includes Kylian Mbappe ($48.8M), Gareth Bale ($43M), Eden Hazard ($37.9M), Andres Iniesta ($35M), Mohamed Salah ($34.2M), Robert Lewandowski ($33.8), Kevin De Bruyne ($33.1M), Paul Pogba ($32.7M), Raheem Sterling ($31.6M) and Antoine Griezmann ($31M).
Only two female athletes made the top 100: Naomi Osaka ($53.2M) and Serena Williams ($35.3M).