Cristiano Ronaldo named world highest paid footballer in 2017

The Real Madrid forward has been named as soccer’s highest paid player for the year 2016-17 by  magazine Forbes.

The Portuguese playmaker led Real Madrid to a Champions League triumph last season, and capped off a season of goal scoring exploits by winning the Ballon d'Or award. Ronaldo was also crucial to Portugal's European Cup win in France.

According to the report, Ronaldo earned a whopping $93 million in the last 12 months to make him the best paid footballer on earth.  $58 million of Ronaldo's total earnings came from salary and bonus (before taxes). While he made $35 million from sponsors such as Nike, Tag Heuer, Herbalife, Clear men’s hair products, PokerStars, Nubia and his personal brand of underwear and perfume.



Argentine and Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi ranked second with an earnings of $80 million.

It may be said that a bulk of the money in world football is shared between Ronaldo and Messi as Brazil and Barcelona's Neymar is ranked a distance third with a $37 million take home package.

Another Real Madrid player in Gareth Bale is fourth on the list with an earning of $34 million.

Here's a list of the 20 highest paid footballers as ranked by Forbes.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – $93 million

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – $80 million

3. Neymar (Barcelona) – $37 million

4. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – $34 million

5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) – $27 million

6. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) – $17.6 million

7. Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – $23.3 million

8. Sergio Aguero (Manecheter City) – $22.6 million

9. James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) – $21.9 million

10. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) – $21.2 million

11. Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain) – $US20.5 million

12. Hulk (Shanghai SIPG) – $20.1 million

13. Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) – $20 million

14. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – $18.9 milllion

15. Graziano Pelle (Shandong Luneng) – $18.1 million

16. Yaya Toure (Manchester City) – $18.1 million

17. Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) – $18 million

18. Robin Van Persie (Fenerbahce) – $17.8 million

19. Gerard Pique (Barcelona) – $17.7 million

20. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) – $17.5 million