Lionel Messi has become football's second-ever billionaire after Forbes announced he topped the 2020 list of highest-earning footballers in the world.
After ending one of the transfer sagas of the summer by deciding to remain at Barcalona, despite publicly announcing he wanted to leave the club after 20 years, Messi has now joined Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in the billion-dollar department.
Messi has racked up "$1 billion in pretax career earnings" after another season at the top of the game which saw him earn a cool $126 million (£98m).
Forbes also spotlights PSG's golden boy, Kylian Mbappé in their new rankings list, tipping the French forward as the next man to join the established GOATs of the game as a future footballing billionaire. The Bondy-born baller became the most expensive teenager in world football when Paris Saint-Germain shelled out £166 million to Monaco for his rights in 2017 and signed him to a contract that will pay him over £21 million this season. Nike and luxury watchmaker Hublot are both high-profile sponsors, while EA Sports announced him as its cover boy for FIFA 21, making him the youngest-ever player to feature by himself on the cover.
Elsewhere, Mbappé's PSG teammate, Neymar, was the third highest-earner on the list after taking in $96m last season, while Premier League stars Mo Salah and Paul Pogba also had big commercial seasons. Check out Forbes' list of the ten highest-earning footballers below.
Forbes' list of highest-earning footballers
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina) $126m (£97.2m)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal) $117m (£90.3m)
- Neymar (Paris St-Germain and Brazil) $96m (£74.1m)
- Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain and France) $42m (£32.4m)
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt) $37m (£28.5m)
- Paul Pogba (Manchester United and France) $34m (£26.2m)
- Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona and France) $33m (£25.5m)
- Gareth Bale (Real Madrid and Wales) $29m (£22.4m)
- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland) $28m (£21.6m)
- David de Gea (Manchester United and Spain) £27m (£20.8m)
