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The Highest-Paid Athletes of All Time

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Source: Statista

The fact that Michael Jordan is one of the most fascinating athletes of all time was once again demonstrated last year, when the joint ESPN/Netflix documentary series The Last Dance captured the attention of tens of millions of viewers around the world. The global popularity of Air Jordan, the athlete, the icon, the brand has paid a healthy dividend over the years, turning Jordan into a billionaire and the highest-paid athlete of all time.

That’s according to a recent report published by Sportico, a digital platform covering the $500 billion sports industry. According to Sportico, Jordan’s inflation-adjusted career earnings amount to $2.62 billion, with a large chunk of that money coming from the ever-flowing license payments from Nike. In the fiscal year ended May 31, 2021, the Oregon-based sportswear giant sold merchandise worth $4.7 billion under the Jordan brand, with MJ’s annual take amounting to more than $100 million according to estimates from Forbes.

Jordan is not the only basketball player in the top 10, with his heir-apparent LeBron James ranked 7th with career earnings of $1.17 billion. Interestingly, three golfers made the top 5 on Sportico’s list, with Tiger Woods the only athlete besides Jordan to crack the $2 billion threshold. Soccer superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are also featured in the top 10, alongside with Roger Federer, Floyd Mayweather and Michael Schumacher, who was injured in a tragic skiing accident in 2013 and whose current medical condition is unknown to the public.

The Highest-Paid Athletes of All Time

The Messi-Ronaldo Era

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Source: Statista

Lionel Messi has done it again. After winning the Copa America with Argentina this summer, the 34-year old was awarded his seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday night. Following the cancellation of the award due to COVID-19 last year, Messi’s triumph marks his second consecutive win after Real Madrid’s Luka Modric had briefly paused the decade-spanning reign of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi over football’s most prestigious individual prize in 2018.

Following four consecutive wins between 2009 and 2012, one in 2015 and another one in 2019, Messi took home his seventh Ballon d’Or this year, putting him two Ballon d’Ors ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, his only near equal in terms of career achievements – certainly in the current generation of players and arguably in the history of soccer.

Netting 4 goals and 5 assists in the Copa America, Messi was key to ending Argentina’s long title drought. And while “La Pulga” (the flee) also scored 38 goals in all competitions for Barcelona last season, the fact that the Spanish Copa del Rey was his only title at club level in the 2020/21 campaign, led many to believe that the Messi-Ronaldo era would come to an end this year. Robert Lewandowsi, who scored 41 goals in the German Bundesliga last season, was an obvious contender this year, but the cancellation of the 2020 award, when the Polish striker had his most impressive season in terms of titles, may have cost him his chance to win the coveted prize.

The Messi-Ronaldo Era