THERE’S a very exclusive sporting club into which even someone as famous as Lionel Messi has only recently gained entry – alongside rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
You need the profile of a global superstar, a mountain of trophies and enough appeal to have sponsors trampling over themselves to get to you.
Oh, and a billion in the bank.
Portuguese icon Ronaldo became football’s first billionaire after making £85million in 2019.
And he was eventually joined by Messi after Forbes revealed their rich list for 2020.
Messi is said to haved pocket £98million in total in 2020 from his salary and endorsements.
Here, SunSport runs down every sporting star to have had three commas in their bank accounts.
They have all hit the billion dollar earnings mark at some point in their careers, but a couple have seen their profits dip since then…
Lionel Messi
The Argentine star raked in £1.15m-a-week while at Barcelona, and although he may have endured a difficult year on the pitch his bank balance continued to thrive.
As well as being sponsored by the likes of Adidas and Pepsi, Messi released a limited edition Budweiser beer.
He also earns around £175,000-a-week on image rights and £250,000-a-week in bonuses.
Messi had a house fit for a king – valued at £5.5m and situated 12 miles away from the Nou Camp.
The Argentina also dabbles in hotels having purchased one for £26m in the coastal town of Sitges.
In 2021, Messi ended his love affair with Barcelona and joined PSG, where he earns almost £800,000-per-week.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The Portuguese sensation, 38, made £85m from wages and endorsement deals in 2019, pushing him into the billions for career earnings.
That increased in 2020, pocketing £91m according to Forbes’ information.
Former Real Madrid star Ronaldo has pocketed over £500m during his career from wages alone.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has stayed at the top of his game for so long due to a legendary work ethic, a strict diet which includes ‘magic’ chicken and a brutal training regime.
He also naps five times a day.
Ronaldo boasts a £16m car collection, which he is reported to have added to last year when he splurged £8.5m on a limited edition Bugatti Centodieci – of which only 10 have been made.
He also dabbles in property.
Reports claimed the dad of four is building a £7m mansion in Quinta da Marinha on the so-called Portuguese Riviera, for when he retires.
This came after purchasing the most expensive flat ever sold in Lisbon in 2019 – a £6.5 million property that includes a gym and indoor swimming pool.
Ronaldo, who is the most followed person on Instagram with 633 million devotees, is sponsored by Nike, Herbalife, DAZN and Unilever among others.
At the start of the year, he signed a mega deal with Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr worth a staggering £173million-per-year.
Tiger Woods
Before his sex scandal downfall and years in the wilderness due to injury, surgeries and an unforgettable mugshot for driving under the influence, Woods was a sponsor’s dream.
He and Roger Federer remain the only athletes to ever break the $100m (£80m) mark for earnings from sponsorships in a single year.
Woods became a billionaire in 2009, according to Forbes – just before his world came crashing down.
The golfer lost a bunch of big-time backers including the likes of Gillette and American Express after he crashed his car into a tree on Thanksgiving in 2009.
Dozens of women came forward claiming to have had relations with the 15-time major champ, leading to an £80m divorce from ex-wife Elin Nordegren.
And many thought his career was over after he was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes in 2017.
But he has bounced back to the top of the game after having career-saving spinal fusion surgery and won The Masters in 2019.
Notoriously frugal – friends say he is an awful tipper – Woods has splashed cash on his epic £41m Florida mansion.
The dad of two also has a £15m yacht called Privacy and some of his big sponsors include Nike, Monster Energy and Bridgestone.
His current net worth is around £630m.
MOST READ IN SPORT
Floyd Mayweather
No one shows off their vast wealth quite like the 50-0 retired king, who also revealed a caring side when he offered to pay George Floyd’s funeral costs.
Money has retired from the ring but his last big bout – against Conor McGregor in August 2017 – earned him an eye-watering $275m (£220m) and pushed him into billionaire status.
Although, he does participate in exhibition fights that keep the money rolling in, including earning around £72million for a bout against YouTuber Logan Paul.
He was the world’s highest-earning celebrity in 2018 as well as the richest sports star, according to Forbes.
Mayweather has a stunning £8m Las Vegas mansion which features a walk-in wardrobe for his shoes.
He also owns a fleet of supercars worth £20m which include a number of Rolls-Royces worth over £3m and four Bugatti Veyron supercars that set him back £1.7m each.
All of his white cars are kept in Las Vegas and his black ones are parked up in Los Angeles at his £19m mansion, which boasts 10 bathrooms, a private cinema room for 20 people and master bedroom bigger than most London flats.
He can get between both homes in his £50m private jet.
Mayweather’s wealth is the subject of much controversy, though, and he has been forced to deny claims he is broke.
The former boxer says he makes seven figures a month from “smart investments”.
The source of Mayweather’s wealth can be tracked down to when he broke with legendary promoter Bob Arum.
Arum promoted Mayweather under his Pretty Boy nickname during the first decade of his professional career after the 1996 Olympics.
But in 2006, Mayweather went into Arum’s office, wrote the $750,000 cheque (£600,000) that released him from his contract and turned himself into ‘Money’ Mayweather.
He became a money-making machine through appearances at Wrestlemania and Dancing with the Stars, box-office smashes such as his 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao – the richest fight ever – and his social media profiles.
His current net worth is around £400m.
Michael Jordan
Sport’s first billionaire, MJ has become a financial behemoth after retirement due to his line of trainers.
Air Jordans bring in makers Nike £2.5b a year and have helped His Airness amass a personal fortune of around £1.7b.
And the former Chicago Bulls star’s profile was boosted again thanks to Netflix’s 10-episode show The Last Dance.
In 2019 he still made the equivalent of £27,780 an hour – despite retiring for good in 2013.
Jordan’s cut of the £2.5b his trainers make is around £120m, that’s four times as much as current NBA icon LeBron James earns with his Nike sponsorship deal.
But other corporate giants were desperate for a slice of MJ – who sold an amazing £12m mansion in Illinois – complete with cigar lounge.
Massive companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Chevrolet – who once had pride of place on Man Utd’s shirts – wrote out colossal cheques for him to promote their brand.
Jordan is said to be worth £1.66b.
No wonder he spends most of his time smoking cigars, playing golf and enjoying his own tequila, which can sell for £1,400 a bottle.
Michael Schumacher
Until recently, the German was the undisputed greatest Formula One racer of all-time.
Lewis Hamilton has matched Schumacher’s tally of seven F1 world titles – and boasts more wins and pole positions to boot.
But in his prime, mostly at Ferrari, Schumacher was unstoppable – and one of the richest.
In 2004, Forbes called him the second-highest paid athlete on the planet and one of the few sportsmen to reach the billionaire’s club.
Schumacher raked in up to £50m per year in his prime from his Ferrari contract, but he also raked in monster sums in sponsorship.
The German most-famously teamed-up with Deutsche Vermongensberatung – earning around £5m across three years just to wear a cap bearing their logo.
All in all, Schumacher is said to be worth exactly $1bn by Forbes.
Schumacher suffered an horrific skiing accident in 2013 and is still recovering after badly hitting his head and being placed in a medically-induced coma.
Precious little information has been released regarding his recovery.
Jack Nicklaus
Nicklaus is regarded as one of golf’s greatest-ever players.
In a long and distinguished career, the American won 117 tournaments, including SIX Masters titles.
As well as prize money, Nicklaus raked in huge sums from sponsorship deals, most-notably MacGregor Golf.
But the US star also designed golf courses, released books and even had his own brand of golf video games to bump his career earnings into the billionaire tier.
In total, Nicklaus raked in £1.15bn during his incredible career.
