Cristiano Ronaldo highest paid athlete globally in 2023 after joining Saudi club Al-Nassr; pips Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has become the highest paid athlete in 2023 globally after moving to the Saudi Arabian football club, Al-Nassr. Ronaldo earned $136 million -- $46 million on-field and $90 million off-field -- after he parted ways with Manchester United and moved to Al-Nassr in 2022 on a deal until 2025.

Ronaldo's annual salary shot up to $75 million whereas his contract has been estimated to be worth more than $219.98 million, according to The World's 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023 list by Forbes. The Portugese football star recently received a sponsorship from crypto exchange Binance, which pushed his off-field earnings to $90 million over the last 12 months. 

Ronaldo was closely followed by Paris Saint German's Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe on this list. Messi, whose future is a matter of speculation, brought home $130 million. Messi has an array of big endorsements under his belt including PepsiCo, Budweiser and Adidas. The footballer gets an estimated $20 million per year from his deal with blockchain-based fan platform Socios. He also launched an investment firm Play Time in October. 

The youngest entrant on this list Kylian Mbappe, who is still under 30, raked in $120 million. Mbappe became the first player ambassador for cryptocurrency-based fantasy game Sorare. 

Footballers left behind basketball legend and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James ($119.5 million), Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez ($110 million), and Golf players Dustin Johnson ($107 million) and Phil Mickelson ($106 million). 

Former world number one golfer Dustin Johnson, who took the sixth spot in Forbes The World's 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023 list, made the biggest gains after he switched to LIV Golf since he did not even make it to the top 50 in 2022. 

Four times NBA champion Stephen Curry ($100.4 million) and Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant ($89.1 million) are the other two basketball players in the list besides LeBron James.

Kevin Durant came from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Sun in February this year. He picked up stakes in Premier Lacrosse League, nutrition brand Happy Viking, League One Volleyball, women’s sports league network Athletes Unlimited, a Major League Pickleball team, Fanatics’ Mitchell & Ness label, digital creator business Goldenset Collective, sports software startup ScorePlay and Tiger Woods’ TMRW Sports through his investment firm 35V. 

Ex-tennis player Roger Federer ($95.1 million) is the only retired player in the list. Federer announced his retirement from competitive sport in September after the final match with Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup. 

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