The billion-dollar club: how the 10 highest-paid athletes of all time made their money

Two new names, one exclusive club

Cristiano Ronaldo sits at the top of the highest-paid athletes of all time with $2.09 billion in career earnings. This year the billion-dollar club got two new members, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, which brings the list of athletes at or near ten figures to ten.

The headline numbers are about pay. The story underneath is about ownership. Most of these athletes built the first few hundred million through salaries, prize money and fight purses. The jump to the top came from what they owned: equity in brands, media companies, sports teams and investment funds.

That is the second scoreboard, and it is where the real gap between these ten opens up.

The scoreboard: how each of the ten got there

10. Neymar, $960 million. Paris Saint-Germain made him rich at a scale football had not seen. From his 2017 move, he earned at least $85 million a year for seven straight seasons, and he is now close to the $1 billion line.

9. Stephen Curry, $1.02 billion. Curry is on track to become the first basketball player to earn more than $200 million in a single season. A new sneaker deal with Chinese brand Li-Ning is a big part of that jump.

8. Kevin Durant, $1.06 billion. Durant could pass LeBron James as the NBA's top career earner on the court in 2027-28. Off it, his family office 35V has put money into more than 100 companies.

7. Floyd Mayweather, $1.08 billion. Two nights did most of the work: $240 million for fighting Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and $275 million for facing Conor McGregor in 2017. He retired unbeaten at 50-0.

6. Roger Federer, $1.11 billion. The 20-time Grand Slam champion became a billionaire in 2025. The biggest driver is not prize money but an estimated 3% stake in Swiss running-shoe brand On.

5. Phil Mickelson, $1.13 billion. After 30 years on the PGA Tour, the six-time major champion moved to LIV Golf in 2022. His guarantee is reported to be worth at least $200 million.

4. LeBron James, $1.68 billion. LeBron has a lifetime deal with Nike and co-founded SpringHill, a media company valued at $725 million in 2021. He also owns a small stake in Fenway Sports Group.

3. Lionel Messi, $1.87 billion. Messi reportedly turned down $400 million a year from Saudi Arabia to join Inter Miami. Since he arrived, the club's value has risen to $1.35 billion, the highest in MLS.

2. Tiger Woods, $1.97 billion. Woods was the world's highest-paid athlete for a decade, earning more than $100 million a year at his peak. TaylorMade, Bridgestone and Monster Energy are among his partners.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, $2.09 billion. Ronaldo's Al Nassr contract pays him more than $200 million a year. It has kept him the world's highest-paid athlete for four straight years.

The second scoreboard: salary gets you in, ownership moves you up

Together, these ten have earned about $14 billion across five sports. Three ways of making money run through the list.

• The paycheque. Ronaldo, Neymar, Curry and Durant are carried by contracts. Saudi Arabia and the NBA's TV-funded salary cap have pushed the ceiling higher than ever.

• The one-off event. Mayweather and Mickelson show how much a single negotiation can be worth: a pay-per-view mega-fight or a rival league's signing guarantee.

• The stake. Federer's slice of On, LeBron's SpringHill and Fenway stakes, and Durant's 35V portfolio are where the biggest long-term gains sit. Equity keeps growing after the playing career ends.

The pattern for the next decade is clear. The athletes who climb fastest will be the ones who swap endorsement fees for ownership early. Messi's Inter Miami deal points the same way, with a club that has grown in value around him.

The next names to cross $1 billion will likely come from the NBA, where pay keeps rising with each new TV deal. Formula 1 is building the next generation too: Mercedes is already betting its future on a 20-year-old, as we explained in our piece on Kimi Antonelli's US Grand Prix win.

The takeaway

The salary makes an athlete rich. The stake makes them a billionaire. The athletes at the top of this list did not just get paid to play; they bought into the businesses around the game.

At The Sports Columnist, we cover the money, deals and decisions behind sport. Every game has a second scoreboard, and for these ten, it reads in billions.

All career-earnings figures are from Forbes' 2026 list of the highest-paid athletes of all time.

Who do you think joins the billion-dollar club next?