Lionel Messi Becomes Football’s Second Billionaire As Barcelona Star Fends Off Cristiano Ronaldo To Top Forbes’ List Of High Earners

Barcelona star, Lionel Messi has been named the second professional footballer to earn $1 billion in his career.

This comes after his rival, Cristiano Ronaldo was listed the first footballer to hit that hallmark. Ronaldo was marked as the third athlete to earn $1 billion in his career after professional golfer Tiger Woods and professional boxer Floyd Mayweather.

According to Forbes, the Argentine has now earned $1billion in pre-tax earnings during his career, making him the highest-earning player in 2020.

The Argentine raked $126m ($92m in salary and $34m in endorsements) tipping him into the $1 billion mark.

Messi has endorsement deals with Adidas, Pepsi, Budweiser, and AI-vision company OrCam Technologies.

Ronaldo came second in the list of highest-earning footballers for the year 2020, according to Forbes, with his total earning $117 million ($70 million in salary and $47 million endorsements).

The Portuguese striker who is the most popular athlete in the world has deals with companies like Nike and Herbalife many more.

In third place is Paris Saint-Germain winger Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, known as Neymar, who is set to earn $96million. The Brazil international recently switched to Puma after his deal with Nike came to an end.

See full list below;