7. Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona
Total Earnings: $33 million
Salary: $28 million | Endorsements: $5 million
Since the Frenchman’s disappointing debut at Barcelona this past season, rumors have swirled that the club is negotiating to swap him to PSG reciprocally for Neymar, at the request of Messi. Griezmann is a fanatical Brooklyn Nets fan, often jetting over to the U.S. for games and regularly posting his support on social media. Nets star Kevin Durant even helped Barça unveil Griezmann’s uniform switch from No. 17 to No. 7 before the 2020-21 season. In January, he launched Grizi Esports to compete in FIFA, Fortnite, CS:Go and Rainbow Six.
6. Paul Pogba, Manchester United
Total Earnings: $34 million
Salary: $28 million | Endorsements: $6 million
Pogba’s current deal expires next summer, although Manchester United has the choice to increase it another year. The French playmaker scared fans in early August by posting on social media that he had signed for Verdansk FC. It clothed to be a fictional club and a stunt by sponsor Activision to market Call of Duty: Warzone, Season 5. The 27-year-old has also appeared with Messi and Salah in Pepsi’s “Play Never Stops” campaign.
5. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
Total Earnings: $37 million
Salary: $24 million | Endorsements: $13 million
Salah has reached the 20-goal mark across all competitions in each of the last three seasons at Liverpool, helping to propel the club to its first Premier League title in 30 years in 2019-20. He has the very best win rate of any league player to possess appeared in additional than 100 matches. In Liverpool’s 2020-21 opening match, he scored a score . In February, the 28-year-old teamed up with long-term sponsor Vodafone to become an envoy for a UN program that brings digital learning tools to refugees in his native Egypt.
4. Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain
Total Earnings: $42 million
Salary: $28 million | Endorsements: $14 million
For the second year during a row, Mbappe was named the winner of the Ligue 1 Golden Boot, which honors the player with the foremost goals for the league. His club also repeated as league champion, with last season’s title declared on a points-per-match basis after play was curtail due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was forced to spend Ligue 1’s 2020-21 season opener in quarantine after he tested positive for Covid-19 but has remained asymptomatic, consistent with his lawyer.
3. Neymar Jr., Paris Saint-Germain
Total Earnings: $96 million
Salary: $78 million | Endorsements: $18 million
The Brazilian striker, one among the foremost polarizing players within the game for his antics on and off the pitch, quadrupled his pay and criticism when he traded playing alongside Messi in Barcelona for suiting up with PSG in August 2017. Between his record $263 million transfer fee and his average $70 million salary, PSG is spending quite $600 million to stay him within the Paris . This summer, Nike ended its relationship with Neymar, allowing him to sign with Puma. He opened Ligue 1’s 2020-21 season with a red card for taking a swipe at the rear of Marseille’s Alvaro Gonzalez head, claiming it had been in response to racial abuse.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus
Total Earnings: $117 million
Salary: $70 million | Endorsements: $47 million
Ronaldo is that the hottest athlete on the earth with 457 million social media followers. He’s also the foremost engaged, per Hookit, regularly displaying his 0% body fat and poster-boy attractiveness for his CR7 lifestyle branded wear, health and wellness sponsors like Herbalife and Clear shampoo, and his lifetime sponsor Nike. In July, he posted a video of himself narrating an encouraging letter he wrote to 10-year-old Brazilian soccer prodigy Julia Rosado and her tearful delight as she received it, along side the Swoosh’s latest Flight Ball. he's only the second man in history, after Iran’s Ali Daei, to possess scored quite 100 international goals, recently passing the mark in Portugal’s UEFA Nations League match against Sweden.
1. Lionel Messi, Barcelona
Total Earnings: $126 million
Salary: $92 million | Endorsements: $34 million
It took FC Barcelona 105 years to win 64 trophies before Messi joined in 2005. within the past 16 years, he’s led the team to 34 trophy wins, a performance that has landed his name among the sport’s greats—and earned him $1 billion in pretax career earnings. This year, he dragged the soccer world through weeks of cliffhanger drama as he fought with the club about playing out the ultimate year of his contract. He stayed, and stands to gather $92 million for doing so, but Messi Watch 2021 is fully force, with all eyes peeled for clues on where he will take place next.