Ronaldo reached the top at 37 years old!
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is said to receive 500 million euros for 2.5 seasons from Al Nassr, one of the teams in the Saudi Arabian First Football League, will be the athlete with the highest annual salary. After having won the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) 5 times and the FIFA Best award, one of the awards given to the footballer of the year, twice, Ronaldo went down in sports history with the transfer he made at 37 years after his successes in his career.
It was reported in the media that the Al Nassr Club paid with the Portuguese footballer, who lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy 5 times and became the top scorer in the history of the tournament with 140 goals, for 500 million euros (approximately $535 million) over 2.5 seasons.
MESSI’S RECORD BROKEN
Ronaldo, who will receive $214 million a year from advertising deals, thus broke the record held by Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi, who earned $168.5 million a season from his contract with Barcelona in November 2017.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo revealed that Barcelona extended Messi’s contract for 4 years for 555 million 237 thousand 619 euros (674 million dollars at the exchange rate of the period).
The French footballer of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Kylian Mbappe, also came to the fore with his contract extended in the summer of 2022.
The French newspaper Le Parisien stated that PSG agreed with Mbappé for 3 years from the 2022-23 season, for a collection of 630 million euros, but the PSG Club announced that the news did not reflect the truth.
THERE ARE 6 NBA PLAYERS IN THE TOP 10
It should be noted that 6 names that play in the American Basketball League (NBA) were ranked in the top 10 of the list of athletes with the highest annual salary.
Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose teams have awarded maximum contracts in line with the NBA’s salary cap, will receive $224 million over 4 years. Two basketball players, whose average annual earnings are 56 million dollars, thus share the 3rd place on the list.
In places 6 and 9 of the list, the automobile athletes were located. Under the 5-year contract signed with Red Bull, the F1 champion of the last 2 years, Max Verstappen, will earn $53.3 million per season, and the team did not deny the claim.
Former F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen signed a record deal for that period when he moved from McLaren, where he raced for 5 years, to Ferrari in 2007. The Finnish driver, who was paid $153 million to get behind the wheel of Ferrari for 3 years, ranked in the top 10 despite the intervening years.
It is known that there were years where Lewis Hamilton, one of the Formula 1 champion drivers, earned more than 60 million dollars from the Mercedes team, and Sebastian Vettel received an annual salary of more than 50 million dollars from Ferrari. However, neither driver made it to the list as contract details were not leaked to the press.
Here are the athletes who signed the 10 most expensive contracts in sports history on a yearly basis:
NOTE: Individuals who play individual sports such as boxing, tennis, and golf are not included in the list because they make their earnings based on their success in competitions. (AA)