10 Richest Athletes Of The World In 2024

10. Kevin Durant

Table 1

Kevin Wayne Durant is the second basketball player to feature in this list. He has successfully acquired the 6^th position of richest athletes. He was born on 29^th September 1988 and is a basketball player of Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The total amount of his net worth is $92.1 million, in which the on-field worth is $42.1 million and the off-field one is $50 million.

Kevin Durant has a sneaker deal with Nike, which brings him about $28 million each year. He has recently signed deals with more than one companies, such as Coinbase, NBA Top Shot and Weedmaps. Additionally, he has his media company Boardroom and investment firm Thirty Five Ventures, which has increased Durant’s net income quiet a lot. The list does not end here, he has also invested in NFT platform OpenSea and digital fitness start-up Future. Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman announced that they would be launching their own SPAC. However, it is still in the search of acquisition.

9. Roger Federer

Table 2

Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player to be ranked as the 7^th richest athlete of the world with a net worth of $90.7 million. Federer is recognised as world no. 1 by Association of Tennis Professionals. Due to several injuries Federer could only play six tournaments in 2020 and in 2021. However, he still remains as the top pitchman in sports as he promotes some of the poshest brands. This is the reason why his on-field net worth is only $0.7 million, whilst the off-field net worth is $90 million.

He has been promoting brands like Uniqlo and Rolex. He is also an investor of burgeoning Swiss shoe brand On. According to Federer himself, he works closely with the shoe brand, and he even spent 20 days in lab in order to develop the company’s pro tennis shoe.

8. Stephen Curry

Table 3

Wardell Stephen Curry II has acquired the 5^th position in the richest athlete list with a net worth of $100.4 million. He was born on 14^th March 1988 and is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Stephen Curry is reported to be the one to make the highest salary this season. This is an impact of his four-year contract extension of $215 million in last August. This is how his on-field worth has reached to $45.8 million.

He has signed an endorsement deal with FTX along with his blockchain investment that was initiated in last December. He has also released a collection of NFT featuring his sneakers. Moreover, his production company, Unanimous Media, signed a development deal with Comcast NBCUniversal and raised his off-field worth to $47 million.

7. Phil Mickelson

Table 4

As the 7^th richest athlete of the world Philip Alfred Mickelson, a professional golfer from America. Mickelson currently plays in LIV Golf League and has a record of winning 45 events on PGA tour. These PGA tours include mix major championships. He got induced into World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012. He was also the second collegiate golfer who gained the title of first-team All-American honor winner for all four years.

In 2022, Mickelson surpassed an earning of $1 billion in career as pre-tax earnings and he only started to grow since then. Other than the earnings from his games he has an off-field earning of $2 million. He is one of the co-founders of For Wellness brand that produces coffee supplements. 
Mickelson’s recent performance at the 2023 Masters tournament has been phenomenal. Some even considered his performance as the performance of the tournament. The tournament ended with Mickelson receiving a $1.6 million check.

6. Dustin Johnson

Table 5

On the 6^th spot, we have yet another professional American golfer Dustin Johnson. He is known for winning two of the major championships, which are 2016 U.S open and 2020 masters tournament. He was formally a PGA tour member, who is now signed with LIV Golf. In 2017 February, Johnson was ranked as the World Number One golfer. He also made a record of holding the rank for 64 weeks. This record is the 5^th longest run as no. 1.

Johnson possesses $102 million as his on-field wealth and $5 million as off-field wealth. He is the captain and co-owner of LIV team 4Aces GC. He earns profit from LIV’s no-cut format and also gained an amount of $3.3 million across five LIV events in 2023. All of this has successfully made him the 6^th richest athlete of 2023-2024, even though he failed to secure any spot in 2022-2023.

5. Canelo Alvarez

Table 6

Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán is a Mexican professional boxer to win several world championships. He was born on 18^th July 1990 and is recognized as the first and only boxer to become undisputed champion at super middleweight. With a net worth of $90 million, the athlete has become the 8^th richest athlete of the world. His on-field worth is $85 million and off-field worth is $5 million. He earned around $40 million or more than that via his two of the pay-per-view matches in May and November of 2021.

Outside the field, he has initiated a partnership with Hennessy. He even owns a Taco restaurant in Mexico. He is now planning to expand the restaurant to California. He also has plans of launching Gas stations. His Canelo Promotions is looking forward to promoting fights in Mexico, which has a partnership with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN.

4. LeBron James

Table 7

LeBron James has acquired the second position in the list of richest athletes of the world. He is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who was born on 30^th December 1984. His net worth is $121.2 million. His on-field worth is $41.2 million, which is because of his undoubtedly advanced skills.

However, the major dominance of James stays out of the court. He starred in Space Jam: A New Legacy, he moved his talk show, The Shop, from HBO to YouTube. He even sold a significant minority stake of SprigHill, which is his production company. In January he announced an endorsement deal with Crypto.com. Moreover, he appeared in a Super Bowl commercial. This does not end here as he has also invested in home gym company Tonal, along with StatusPRO, a sports tech start-up that creates virtual reality training products, pushing his off-field worth to $80 million.

3. Kylian Mbappé

Table 8

The third and only under 30 entry of the list of richest athletes of 2024 is Kylian Mbappé. Born on 20^th December 1998, Mbappé is a French footballer, who has recently gained an enormous amount of fame after the recent FIFA World Cup.

He plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and is the captain of France National Team. Mbappé signed with Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, at the age of 18. The deal brought him €180 million making him considered as the second-most expensive player. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he won Golden Boot and Silver Ball setting a new record of scoring the most goals in world cup finals.  

In June 2023, Mbappé became the very first ambassador of Sorare, which is a cryptocurrency-based fantasy game. However, he got into a dispute with French Football Federation as he refused to take part in a photo shoot with the national team.

Nevertheless, his growing popularity has made him one of the richest athletes of 2024.

2. Lionel Messi

Table 9

Now we have reached to the very end of the list and here we can see that Lionel Messi is officially the richest athlete of the world with a net worth of $130 million. This Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team, was born on 24^th June 1987. He is one of the most popular athletes to exist and he is also regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He won Ballon d’Or in 2021 as the world’s best men’s soccer player. However, his recent matches have become a subject of criticism. Nevertheless, Messi has been successful in acquiring an on-field worth of $75 million.

He has currently signed a $20 million-a-year Partnership with Socios. His endorsement portfolios include brands like Adidas, Budweiser, and PepsiCo. He has also become the very first athlete brand ambassador of Hard Rock International. All of these resulted in an off-field worth of $55 million, which is similar to Rolando’s earnings. The increasing social media presence of the athlete is expected to impact his earnings and retain him as the richest player of the world for a long time.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo 

Table 10

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is the third richest player of the world without a single doubt, especially when he is regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He currently plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and captains the Portugal national team. The first season of this year was quite disappointing for Ronaldo, however, players like Ronaldo do not dwell in disappointing performance. The net worth of the player is $115 million. The on-field worth is $60 million.  

The majority of his off-field income, which is worth $55 million, comes from his social media presence. He has 690 million followers in Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. His endorsement projects include collaboration with Nike, Clear shampoo and Herballife. He has also invested in Tatel restaurants. Additionally, he is the face off ZujuGP, which is an application to become a digital soccer community.