Lionel Messi may have taken a pay cut when leaving the Catalan giants, Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain but his superstar status and appeal have ensured that he still takes the number 1 spot on Forbes highest-paid athletes in the world. LeBron James has for a long time been the one topping the list on Forbes but now the Argentine international has surpassed him as a result of his increased endorsements off the pitch alongside a lucrative deal at the French capital giants.  Manchester United's legend, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in third on the list with Messi's teammate Neymar who is the highest paid in PSG making fourth on the list. The list is completed by iconic figures in the basketball, NFL, tennis, and boxing sporting disciplines. These are people who have some serious marketing appeal and on a weekly basis get heavy paycheques. Here are the people who made it to the list in ascending order: 

1.  Lionel Messi: The Argentine international is working on a very hefty salary at PSG but his heavy earnings are further dwarfed and overshadowed by the commercial partnerships he enjoys off the pitch. He has endorsement deals with PepsiCo, Budweiser, and Adidas while he also has a multi-year partnership with Socios worth $20 million. The superstar earns up to $130 million at a minimum per year.

2. LeBron James: The forward who plays for Los Angeles Lakers is now a movie star and has featured in Space Jam. He announced a deal with Crypto.com in January and he sold a minority stake in the production company SpringHill in October last year for about $725 million. He also has investments in the tech start-up StatusPRO and home gym company Tonal. He gets about $121.1 million per year. 

3. Cristiano Ronaldo: In matters of football, he is the biggest rival of Messi and for almost two decades now the debate has been on who is the (G.O.A.T) between the two. He signed a big-money contract on his return to Manchester United but much of his earning power comes from social media where he has a combined following of 690 million. This influence advantage allows him to bring in revenue from sponsors Clear Shampoo, Herbalife, and Nike. He is the face of an upcoming soccer community app known as ZujuGP and is an investor in Tatel restaurants. He earns about $115 million per year.
 

4. Neymar: The Brazilian international who plies his trade at PSG has some valuable sponsorship deals in place with the likes of Red Bull and Puma. He has signed up with a platform known as NFTSTAR and he dips his toe in the world of NFTs. The Brazilian has been the subject of a Netflix docuseries. He gets about $95 million per year.
 

5. Stephen Curry: In 2021 August, he signed a four-year contract worth $215 million with the Golden State Warriors. His new FTX endorsement deal came with an equity stake and he has also moved to the blockchain of NFT. Unanimous Media, a production company associated with him signed a development deal with Comcast NBCUniversal last year September. He earns about $92.8 million a year. The others are; Kevin Durant in the 6th position with $92.1 million, Roger Federer at 7th with $90.7 million, Canelo Alvarez comes 8th at $90 million. The last two positions of 9th and 10th are occupied by Tom Brady and Giannis Antetokounmpo who pockets  $83.9 million and $80.9 million respectively.