Forbes magazine released its 2016 world’s highest paid athletes, and Real Madrid and Portugal superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list. He’s just won the Champions League with Real Madrid — and now Cristiano Ronaldo can celebrate being the world’s highest-paid athlete, too.
Forbes estimates that Portugal captain Ronaldo, who will be one of the biggest stars at Euro 2016 in France, earned a staggering $88 million (£60.4m) last year.
That puts him clear at the top of the American business magazine’s annual compilation of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes — and it means he is again ahead of Barcelona rival Lionel Messi, with the pair having finished third and fourth last year. Argentina’s Messi earned $81.4m this year as soccer’s two biggest stars rung the changes at the pinnacle of the list.
It is the first time since 2000 that either golfer Tiger Woods — who drops to 12th after a wretched run of poor form and injury problems — or boxer Floyd Mayweather has not headed the table. Basketball stars LeBron James ($77.2m) and Kevin Durant ($56.2m) occupy third and fifth places, but baseball is the most heavily represented sport on the list, boasting 26 names. Basketball has 18, American football 21 and soccer 12.

Source: CNN.com