Forbes drops latest richest athletes list featuring major sports stars
Forbes released its 2026 highest-paid athletes list. One star tied an all-time earnings record as three sports saw new pay milestones. See the full list.
Forbes drops latest richest athletes list featuring major sports stars originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Cristiano Ronaldo just broke a sports record that had stood for over 10 years.
Forbes released its 2026 list of the 10 highest-paid athletes on May 22. The top 10 earned a combined $1. 4B over the past 12 months.
Every one of them cleared $100M for the third straight year. Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list with an estimated $300M. That total ties Floyd Mayweather Jr.
's 2015 mark as the largest Forbes has ever measured since 1990. Ronaldo made $235M on the field and $65M off it. This is his sixth time leading the ranking, matching Michael Jordan for the second-most all-time.