Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid athlete on the planet, pulling in an estimated $300 million in 2025 — and he's spending his summer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. At an age when most footballers are doing punditry, he's still the main event.
Forbes confirmed the figures in May. Al-Nassr pays Ronaldo north of $200 million annually, and his off-field income stacks on top of that. It's the fourth consecutive year he's led the list, matching what Forbes described as "the best year ever measured" by the outlet. He's also the first active athlete to break $2 billion in total career earnings before taxes and agent fees. Messi, for reference, sits at $1.8 billion and comes in third on this year's Forbes ranking.
What Portugal Need From Him Now
Ronaldo entered the tournament having scored 973 career goals — a number that makes every match potentially historic. But statistics are background noise when Portugal face Spain on Monday. That's a knockout-caliber clash on paper, the kind of game where reputations get made or quietly shelved.
Portugal sit sixth in the betting odds, behind France, Argentina, Spain, England, and one other. France have been the standout so far — a 3-0 win over Sweden on Tuesday was the kind of performance that shifts market confidence overnight. The United States crept up to eighth after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina, giving the tournament a genuine local storyline as the host nation.
But Ronaldo is still the name that moves the needle globally. Nearly a billion combined followers across Instagram, Facebook, and X. The sport doesn't have a bigger face.
Portugal's odds of going deep depend largely on whether that face can still carry a squad when the pressure is highest. Monday's Spain match will tell us more than any Forbes ranking ever could.
