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Best paid athletes in the world
The world’s top 100 sports men and women earned a combine £1.6 billion last year. The top 10 best paid athletes in the world covers a variety of sports including boxing, football, NFL, Basketball and golf.
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NFL star Matt Ryan is the tenth highest earner with an annual salary of $42 million. The majority of that is made up from a $28 million sign on fee with the Atlanta Falcons.
9
Tennis star Rafael Nadal makes a total of $44.5 million a year, $30 million of which is made up from endorsements. The rest is winnings from the ATP Tour.
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Phil Mickelson is the first golfer on the list. As with Nadal, the majority of his $53.2 million annual earnings is made up from endorsements. The remainder comes from winnings on the PGA Tour.
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The 7 times Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is 7th on our list with annual earnings of $56.2 million, $1.5 million of which came when he finished as runner up to Novak Djokovic in his 25th Grand Slam final.
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With annual earnings of $61.2 million, Tiger Woods is the highest earning golfer in the world. With sponsors like EA Sports and Nike, Woods can afford a few bad rounds as he makes $55 million a year just from endorsements.
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Kobe Bryant is the 5th highest earner on our list. His $61.5 million annual earnings are split equally between endorsements and wages from the NBA.
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The FC Barcelona and Argentina talisman Lionel Messi is the fourth highest earning athlete in the world and the second highest earning footballer. He takes home $64.1 million a year.
3
LeBron James is the highest earner from the NBA. His $72.3 million a year earnings puts him third on this list. Most of the money comes from sponsorships deals with multinational firms like Nike, McDonald's and Coca-Cola.
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You might have expected Cristiano Ronaldo to be at the top of the chart but his $80 million earnings put him $25 million behind the world’s highest paid athlete.
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Perhaps it’s fitting that the athletes who risk a little more than reputation earn more than the rest. Our number one earner is boxer Floyd Mayweather who commands no less than $105 million.