Barcelona’s star forward Lionel Messi has edged out Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s highest-earning footballer in 2020 according to a Forbes report.

Messi earned a whopping $126 million in 2020, $9 million more than his arch-rival Ronaldo.

Paris-Saint Germain stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe follow the top two in the list with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah completing the top five.

Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann who’s struggled since his move to Catalunya is seventh in the list, while Gareth Bale who has largely been uninvolved at the Bernabeu is eighth in the list.

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Manchester United’s David de Gea is the only goalkeeper in the top ten making the highest-paid custodian in world football. His teammate, Paul Pogba, also features in the top ten highest-earning footballers in the world.

Messi is likely to remain at the top in the coming year as well after deciding to stay at Barcelona who pay him a bumper $92 million as annual salary. It’s unlikely that his next suitors if he decides to leave the Camp Nou would pay that amount.

Here is the list of top ten highest-earning footballers

List of top ten highest-earning footballers

Players Club Salary (in $) Endorsements (in $) Total income (in $)
Lionel Messi Barcelona 92 million 34 million 126 million
Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus 70 million 47 million 117 million
Neymar PSG 78 million 18 million 96 million
Kylian Mbappe PSG 28 million 14 million 42 million
Mohamed Salah Liverpool 24 million 13 million 37 million
Paul Pogba Manchester United 28 million 6 million 34 million
Antoine Griezmann Barcelona 28 million 5 million 33 million
Gareth Bale Real Madrid 23 million 6 million 29 million
Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich 24 million 4 million 28 million
David de Gea Manchester United 24 million 3 million 27 million