Who is the richest footballer in the world?

With no preferential order, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, aren’t just the world’s best footballers, they’re also the richest players on planet earth. 

With modern-day bonuses, endorsements and salaries, it can be relatively straight-forward for the world’s top players to earn a small fortune.

However, gone are the days when players earned just their wages from the teams they played for, and majority of footballers now are paid more by outside sponsors than their actual club.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have tapped into such market, and have been richly rewarded for their market exploitations.

For Cristiano Ronaldo, the current world best, his huge social media following, Nike CR7 brand and sponsorships deals with likes of Tag Heuer, EA Sports and Sacoor Brothers have helped him amass an estimated fortune of $450 million.

Lionel Messi, on the other hand, is worth just less than his old foe - an estimated $400m.

According to Forbes, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather are the two athletes who earn a higher annual salary than the Argentina forward’s $111m annual income. 

With endorsements, Ronaldo's income far outstrips Messi’s, and makes him one of the world’s richest athletes.

The duo have become so marketable throughout their careers that their closest competitors have earned less than half of the total gained by Ronaldo and Messi.  

The likes of Neymar ($185m), Wayne Rooney ($160m), Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($190m) and Gareth Bale ($125m) are also among sport's most wealthy individuals.

However, it’s not only current players who can earn significant fortune from their talented feet. Former stars such as Ronaldo ($150m) and David Beckham ($450m) gained contacts and links from their playing days, which they are still benefiting financially from till date.

Another example is former Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, who has an estimated net worth of $210m.

However, perhaps the wealthiest footballer of all time is Leicester City winger Faiq Bolkiah.

The 20-year-old is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who is estimated to worth $20billion!