Cristiano Ronaldo races ahead of Lionel Messi to become soccer’s first billion-dollar man

Portuguese playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a place at No. 4 on the 2020 Forbes Celebrity 100 after earning USD 105 million before taxes and fees in the last on year. Ronaldo's arch rival ended at fifth place. According to Forbes, Ronaldo has become the first soccer player in history to earn $1 billion across his playing career.

Ronaldo, 35, has become only the third athlete to hit the mark while still playing, following golfer Tiger Woods, who managed to achieve the feat in 2009 due to his long-term endorsement deal with Nike NKE. Boxer Floyd Mayweather earned this much in 2017 largely due to his income from a cut of pay-per-view sales for his boxing matches. 

Ronaldo has earned $650 million on the pitch during his 17 years as a pro and it is is expected that the star playmaker would reach $765 million in career salary with his current contract, which ends in June 2022. Messi has earned a total of $605 million in salary since 2005. The only team athlete who posed a serious challenge to Ronaldo and Messi was former New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, who retired in 2016 after earning $450 million in salary as a Major League Baseball player. Iconic soccer player David Beckham ended  his career with total earnings of $500 million, half of which came from off-the-pitch endorsements. 

“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players of all time, in the world’s most popular sport, in an era when football has never been so rich,” said Sporting Intelligence’s Nick Harris, whose Global Sports Salaries Survey ranks teams worldwide based on total salary expense. “He’s box office.”

The rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi started in 2009 in Spain’s La Liga, where Ronaldo played for Real Madrid and Messi for Barcelona. Their on-pitch faceoffs sparked a nine-year battle between the two players to emerge as the best player in the world.

Notably, Barcelona won La Liga’s title six times and two Champions Leagues trophies due to Messi's brilliance, while Real Madrid won the Spanish title twice and the Champions League four times with Ronaldo. During their years in La Liga, both Messi and Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or (soccer’s MVP award) four times.

In January, Ronaldo became the first person with 200 million followers on Instagram. He has a total of 427 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that makes him the most popular athlete on the planet.