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.

10

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.

8

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.

7

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.

6

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.

5

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.

4

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.

2

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.

1

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.