Cristiano Ronaldo tops Forbes' 2016 list of highest-paid athletes

Cristiano Ronaldo (31) has become the athlete who made the biggest sum of money over the past year. The Real Madrid star topped the list of the world’s highest paid athletes announced by the Forbes on Wednesday. Ronaldo earned a total 88 million U.S. dollars, making 56 million dollars from salary and prize money and 32 million dollars from endorsements.

This marks the first time that a footballer has ranked first in the list since the U.S. economic magazine began to announce the list in 1990. Ronaldo became the second team sports athlete to top the list, following basketball legend Michael Jordan. Ranked second on the Forbes list was Lionel Messi (29) of F.C. Barcelona, who earned 81.4 million dollars over the same period.

Three basketball players made the list of top 10 while football, golf, and tennis each produced two players within top 10 with the single exception of an American football athlete. Golfer Jordan Spieth (23), who was ranked 9th with 52.8 million dollars, was the youngest athlete among top 100 players.

Within the top 100, baseball produced the largest number of athletes with 26, but none of them were ranked higher than the 30th. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (28) was ranked the highest among baseball players at the 33rd with 32 million dollars.

It was Roger Federer that earned the largest endorsement income in the entire list. Ranked fourth with 67.8 million dollars, the tennis star earned 60 million dollars from endorsements alone. The list of companies that Federer modeled for includes Nike, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz and Credit Suisse.

Among Asian athletes, Japanese tennis star Nishikori Kei (27) rose the highest at the 29th, earning 33.5 million dollars. Serena Williams (35) was the highest paid female athlete with 28.9 million dollars, being ranked the 40th. Having ranked at the 32nd with 32.5 million dollars, Usain Bolt (30) became the only track-and-field athlete who made the list of 100. Conor McGregor (28), who is the only mixed martial arts fighter who made the list, was ranked the 85th with 22 million dollars. There was no Korean athlete in the list of 100.

이종석기자 wing@donga.com