Lionel Messi Tops Forbes Highest Paid Athlete List The annual top 100 list of the highest paid athletes in the world was released by 'Forbes' on Tuesday. This year's top ten was headlined by soccer icons and also included some NFL and NBA superstars. #1: Lionel Messi, soccer
$127 million #2: Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer
$109 million #3: Neymar, soccer
$105 million #4: Canelo Alvarez, boxing
$94 million #5: Roger Federer, tennis
$93.4 million #6: Russell Wilson, NFL
$89.5 million #7: Aaron Rodgers, NFL
$89.3 million #8: LeBron James, NBA
$89 million #9: Stephen Curry, NBA
$79.8 million #10: Kevin Durant, NBA
$65.4 million