@assetvstime: For more than a decade Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi earned in the same bracket and traded the number one spot on the Forbes list, and Messi actually out-earned Ronaldo in four separate years. From 2013 to 2023 the two never finished more than about 18 million dollars apart, often swapping first and second place. Then Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia and his annual earnings nearly doubled, climbing from 136 million in 2023 to 260 million in 2024 and 300 million by 2026. Messi, now starring for Inter Miami in MLS, rose more gently to 140 million. This chart lays every year side by side, combining salary, prize money and endorsements, and pinpoints the exact season a ten year financial dead heat became a runaway. Data sourced from the annual Forbes World's Highest Paid Athletes lists, 2013 to 2026, with figures corroborated against ESPN and Goal reporting. #football #Soccer #ronaldo #messi #assetvstime

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Thursday 18 June 2026 19:08:47 GMT