Messi, Ronaldo, McGregor, Mayweather: Forbes’ highest-paid athlete every year from 2012

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Floyd Mayweather and Roger Federer are some of the biggest athletes in the world and have been at the top of their professions over the past decade and have entertained us all.

Unsurprisingly, that means they’ll have accumulated a vast amount of wealth year on year through their wages, winnings and endorsement deals.

Forbes have announced the highest-paid athletes every year since 2012, all the way up to 2022, so let’s see who has the most brass and who relies on sponsorships!

Money topped the charts in four separate years between 2012 and 2022, with his huge fight purses helping him smash the earnings table. In 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018, no one could come close to Mayweather.

The first two years he topped the charts he had no money through endorsements, with salaries coming in at $85 million and $105 million in 2012 and 2014 respectively. He then moved on to $285 million of his $300 million take home in 2015, whilst 2018 saw him make $285 million, with only $10 million of that coming via endorsements.

Tiger Woods’ earnings

In 2013, Tiger Woods topped the Forbes list, with a total of $78.1 million, with the majority being made up in endorsements, with only $13.1 million taken home via his salary/winnings.

Woods was on fire in 2013, picking up PGA Tour Player of the Year for his exploits on the course that term, winning his fair share of trophies on his way to collating a tidy sum of money!

Cristiano Ronaldo’s earnings

It was inevitable the Portuguese star would feature here, with the famous number seven picking up back-to-back top spots on Forbes’ list in 2016 and 2017.

The first year saw Ronaldo make $88 million, with $56 million his wage and winnings and $32 million thanks to