The World's Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2025

Cristiano Ronaldo leads a group of ten footballers collectively earning $945 million this season, but as the sun sets on his legendary career, two young stars are stepping into the spotlight.

- JUSTIN BIRNBAUM

For a brief moment this summer, Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to be on the verge of ending his illustrious soccer career. The 40-year-old superstar forward's contract was expiring at Al Nassr, the Saudi Pro League club he had joined in 2023, and he had just led Portugal to victory in the UEFA Nations League tournament, offering him an opportunity to hang up his boots on a high note. But Ronaldo quickly dispelled the retirement speculation and re-upped with Al Nassr on a two-year deal.

“I think I'm still producing good things; I'm helping my club and the national team,” he told Portuguese television network Canal 11 in October. “Why not keep going?”

The money doesn’t hurt, either. Forbes estimates Ronaldo will earn $230 million from Al Nassr during the 2025-26 season, a sum that is believed to incorporate financial incentives from commercial agreements facilitated by his club, in addition to his playing wages. Factor in the $50 million he will collect off the field from partners including Nike, Binance and Herbalife, and Portugal's favorite son is slated to pull in $280 million in total earnings over the coming year before taxes and agents’ fees.

That astonishing figure, which is roughly in line with Forbes’ projection for Ronaldo for the 2024-25 season, gives him the top spot among the world’s highest-paid soccer players for the sixth time in the last decade. In fact, among all the athletes Forbes has tracked since 1990, only one has surpassed that number in a single year while active in his sport: boxer Floyd Mayweather, who hauled in an estimated $300 million over the 12 months ending in June 2015 and $285 million three years later.

Ronaldo’s sky-high total also puts a fair amount of distance between him and his longtime rival Lionel Messi of Inter Miami, who ranks No. 2 among the sport's top earners at $130 million in projected total income.