Ronaldo sits on top of the pile again. The 2026 list of the world's highest-paid athletes has him at US$300 million across the past 12 months, his biggest haul yet and the fourth year running he's claimed top spot.

That figure is not just a personal best. It ties the largest single-year total Forbes has ever measured, level with Floyd Mayweather's US$300 million from 2015, though once you adjust for inflation Mayweather still edges ahead.

The short version of the podium: Ronaldo first, boxing's Canelo Alvarez second, Lionel Messi third.

On any list of the richest athletes in world sport, those three set the ceiling.

Soccer players and the Saudi money behind them dominate the conversation, but the list runs deeper than that, and the names on it line up almost exactly with the sports Aussies back every weekend.

Quick word on the numbers. Every figure here is in US dollars, before tax and agent fees, covering the window from 1 May 2025 to 1 May 2026.

The numbers below count both on-field income (salary, prize money, bonuses) and off-field earnings (sponsorships, appearances, business deals).

The 10 Richest Athletes in the World in 2026

Here's the full ranking, with each athlete's total broken into what they earned competing and what they pulled in away from the field.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer). US$300 million total: US$235m on-field, US$65m off-field.
2. Canelo Alvarez (boxing). US$170 million total: US$160m on-field, US$10m off-field.
3. Lionel Messi (soccer). US$140 million total, split evenly at US$70m each way.
4. LeBron James (basketball). US$137.8 million total: US$52.8m on-field, US$85m off-field.
5. Shohei Ohtani (baseball). US$127.6 million total: US$2.6m on-field, US$125m off-field.
6. Stephen Curry (basketball). US$124.7 million total: US$59.7m on-field, US$65m off-field.
7. Jon Rahm (golf). US$107 million total: US$97m on-field, US$10m off-field.
8. Karim Benzema (soccer). US$104 million total: US$100m on-field, US$4m off-field.
9. Kevin Durant (basketball). US$103.8 million total: US$54.8m on-field, US$49m off-field.
10. Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1). US$100 million total: US$70m on-field, US$30m off-field.

Combined, the ten of them banked US$1.4 billion, more than double the US$635 million the top 10 managed back in 2016 when Ronaldo first claimed No.1.

Every name on this year's list cleared US$100 million for the third year in a row.

Why Ronaldo Won't Get Off The Throne

Ronaldo's lead is not close. His US$300 million sits US$130 million clear of the bloke in second, and the bulk of it, US$235 million, comes straight from his Al-Nassr playing contract in the Saudi Pro League.

He has now topped this list six times, level with Michael Jordan. Only Tiger Woods has done it more often, with 11.

The off-field side keeps humming too. Ronaldo has more than a billion social media followers and a sponsor stable running from Nike to Binance, and in February he picked up a 25% stake in Spanish second-division club UD Almeria.

He also signed a fresh two-year Al-Nassr deal last June, so this gravy train has at least another season left in it.

At 41 he is still chasing the one prize missing from the cabinet, a World Cup, which he gets another crack at with Portugal this northern summer.

Canelo And Boxing's Saudi Era

Canelo Alvarez is the only non-soccer player in the top three, and at US$170 million he is there almost entirely on fight money. US$160 million of his total came inside the ropes.

The engine is a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh, the man behind Riyadh Season, reportedly worth as much as US$400 million. That is the kind of money combat sports prints once the Saudis get involved.

It came despite a rough night under the lights. Canelo lost to Terence Crawford last September in Las Vegas, the upset dropping his record to 63-3-2.

The business around the bout still broke records anyway, with 70,482 through the gates setting a new Nevada attendance mark and more than 41 million people streaming it on Netflix.

The takeaway for punters is blunt. The highest-paid boxers get paid whether they win or lose, which is exactly why the marquee fights keep landing on the calendar.

Soccer's Old Guard Refuses To Fade

Messi sits third on US$140 million, and his is the cleanest split on the list, US$70 million on the field and US$70 million off it.

His Inter Miami guaranteed money alone, US$28.3 million this season, tops the entire payroll of 28 other MLS clubs.

Benzema is the other soccer player in the top 10, eighth on US$104 million, nearly all of it salary after a winter switch from Al-Ittihad to Al-Hilal.

Notice the pattern. Three of the top eight are soccer players, and Saudi cash is bankrolling two of them outright.

The Saudi Pro League has reshaped where the sport's money flows, and that shift now reaches well beyond the pitch.

The Record-Breakers: Hamilton And Ohtani

Looking at the top 10 list of the richest athletes in the world, we see also two names that have set marks for their entire sport.

Lewis Hamilton banked US$100 million to crack the top 10 at No.10, a new high for a Formula 1 driver and clear of the US$82 million he set himself back in 2021.

The funny part is it came in a down year on track. He finished sixth in the standings in his first season with Ferrari, well below seven-time-champion standards, yet he laps nearly every rival commercially thanks to deals with Dior, Lululemon and the rest.

Shohei Ohtani is the strangest entry of the lot. He made US$127.6 million for fifth, but only US$2.6 million of that was baseball salary.

The Dodgers deferred almost all of his US$700 million contract to payments that start in 2034, so his current income is basically all endorsements, north of US$125 million of it.

That off-field figure is the second-biggest Forbes has ever recorded for an active athlete, behind only Conor McGregor's 2021 number.

The haul also put him back atop baseball's biggest earners, retaking the MLB crown after Juan Soto held it for a single year.

Sinner Flies The Flag For Tennis

Tennis barely registers inside the top 10, yet it is all over the wider top 50, and Jannik Sinner is the man marking the floor.

The Italian set this year's entry cutoff at US$54.6 million, the lowest figure that still earned a place among the 50 highest-paid athletes.

For Australian punters the name matters more than the dollar amount. Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have become the rivalry driving men's tennis, and both turn up as short-priced favourites whenever a Grand Slam comes around, the Australian Open included.

The earnings explain why the bookies rate them so highly.

Prize money and appearance fees follow the players who keep going deep into the second week, so the blokes near the top of the Forbes list and the blokes near the top of the tennis markets tend to be one and the same.

What The Rich List Tells You As A Punter

Run your eye down the ten names and you have a rough map of where the betting action lives: soccer, boxing, basketball, baseball, golf and motorsport, with tennis sitting just behind.

Basketball ties soccer for the most names in the top 10, three apiece, so the highest-paid basketball players are well covered here through LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.

That overlap is no accident. Earnings cluster around the athletes who carry the biggest events, and the biggest events are where the deepest markets sit.

As such, the list doubles as a guide to the stars most likely to shorten a market the moment they are confirmed to play.

A couple of things to keep in your head, though.

Off-field money makes up a huge slice of these totals, since Ohtani, LeBron and Ronaldo all earn more from sponsors and business than from salary, so a fat pay packet says more about fame than current form.

And the average age on the list is 37, the oldest Forbes has ever recorded, which tells you the household names still cash the biggest cheques even when the results do not follow the money.

One additional thing to keep an eye on is the Saudi tap.

The kingdom's Public Investment Fund said in April it would stop funding LIV Golf beyond this season as part of a wider spending pullback.

Jon Rahm's US$107 million, seventh and almost all of it from LIV, shows how much that single funding source has reshaped the pay packets of golf's top earners, so any change there reshuffles who gets paid what.

No Women Made The Cut

For the third year running, not a single woman cracked the top 50. The last to manage it was Serena Williams in 2023.

The highest-earning female athlete over the past year was American tennis player Coco Gauff on roughly US$33 million, comfortably short of Sinner's US$54.6 million cutoff.

Naomi Osaka still holds the all-time record for a woman, US$60 million back in 2021.

Forbes points to the obvious driver: the gap in salaries, broadcast deals and commercial contracts between men's and women's sport.

Women's leagues are growing fast, with WNBA and women's soccer valuations climbing, but the earnings ceiling has not caught up yet.

FAQ

A few quick ones that come up every time the list drops.

Who Is The Highest-Paid Athlete In The World?

Cristiano Ronaldo. He earned an estimated US$300 million over the past 12 months to lead the Forbes 2026 list, his fourth straight year on top and the sixth time overall.

How Much Did Cristiano Ronaldo Earn?

US$300 million before tax and fees, made up of US$235 million from his Al-Nassr contract and US$65 million off the field. It ties the biggest single-year total Forbes has ever recorded.

Who Is The Highest-Paid Athlete Who Isn't A Soccer Player?

Boxer Canelo Alvarez, second overall on US$170 million, almost all of it from his Saudi-backed fight deal.

Who Is The Highest-Paid Tennis Player On The List?

Jannik Sinner, who set the entry cutoff at US$54.6 million as the 50th and final name. No other tennis player out-earned him this year.

Are There Any Women On The Forbes 2026 List?

No. For the third consecutive year no female athlete made the top 50. Coco Gauff was the highest earner among women at around US$33 million.

How Does Forbes Work Out The Earnings?

It adds on-field income (salaries, prize money, bonuses) to off-field income (endorsements, appearances, business ventures), counting money banked between 1 May 2025 and 1 May 2026.