Soccer

The World's Highest-Earning Soccer Players

Forbes has released its latest list of the world's highest-earning soccer players and there's no real surprise about the two superstars at the top of the pay league. Over the past 12 months, FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi earned the most money of any player, with a $92 million salary as well as a further $34 million from endorsements, making for a grand total of $126 million.

Cristiano Ronaldo comes second in earnings and the Juventus forward has made $117 million over the past year, $70 million of which came from his salary and $47 million of which came from endorsements. Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar Jr. rounds off the top three, earning $18 million from endorsements and $78 million from his salary over the last 12 months.

Description

This chart shows the soccer players with the highest earnings in 2020.

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Highest-earning soccer players worldwide as of May 2026 (in million U.S. dollars)
The 10 highest-paid soccer players in the world in 2020 (in millions of U.S. dollars)
Highest-earning Major League Soccer players in 2025, by annual salary (in U.S. dollars)
Premium statistics
Best paid soccer players from Latin America in 2020 (in million U.S. dollars)
Highest paid athletes worldwide as of May 2026, by earnings from salary and endorsements (in million U.S. dollars)
Football players in the Chinese Super League ranked by weekly salary in 2020 (in 1,000 euros)

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