The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2024

A Saudi payday may be harder to come by these days, but the Kingdom still boasts four of the 10 top-earning footballers, including a record-setting Cristiano Ronaldo.

_{By Justin Birnbaum, Forbes Staff}

A year after Saudi Pro League clubs shelled out roughly $1 billion on transfers—an unprecedented wave of spending for a nation hardly considered a soccer power—the market has cooled considerably. With oil prices languishing and the country engaged in a laundry list of megaprojects that have left its $925 billion (assets) sovereign wealth fund strapped for cash, the Saudis spent only $524 million on soccer acquisitions this summer, according to Transfermarkt. And the incoming players—with Moussa Diaby, Ivan Toney and Marcos Leonardo perhaps the most notable—aren’t exactly household names.

For the superstars who paved the path to the Middle East, however, the Saudis’ checks still clear. Four players from the Saudi Pro League now rank among the world’s 10 highest-paid soccer players, counting both their on-field salaries this season and their annual earnings from endorsements, memorabilia and other business endeavors. England’s star-studded Premier League claims only three spots while Spain’s La Liga nabs two and Lionel Messi gives the U.S.’s Major League Soccer its lone representative.

Messi lands at No. 2 overall with an estimated $135 million before taxes and agent fees—including $75 million off the field, the best mark in the sport—but for the second consecutive year, he trails his rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who opened the Saudi floodgates when he joined Al Nassr in January 2023.

The Portuguese superstar, who leads the list for the sixth time in the last decade, is projected to earn $220 million on the field this season, a sum that is believed to include financial incentives from commercial agreements facilitated by his club on top of his playing wages. His $285 million total—including an estimated $65 million off the field—is a record in soccer, beating the $260 million he posted on the 2023 list. And among all of the athletes Forbes has tracked, dating to 1990, only boxer Floyd Mayweather has surpassed that figure in a single year while still active in his sport.

The Saudis’ quieter 2024 has had ripple effects across the soccer world, however, in part because of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations, which tie the amount a team can spend to the money it takes in. “In 2023, you had the Saudi Pro League, which was contributing to the Premier League in two ways: It was paying transfer fees, and it was taking off payroll players who were very expensive,” explains Kieran Maguire, a soccer finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool. “Well, because Saudi is not spending money, the Premier League catches a cold on the receiving end.”

Indeed, the Premier League’s transfer spending fell to $2.5 billion this summer, from a record $3 billion last year, and Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1 also saw significant declines year-over-year. Real Madrid signing Kylian Mbappé (No. 5, $90 million) is the only member of the earnings top 10 who changed teams this off-season, and the lack of blockbuster moves has limited the financial growth for the rest of the sport’s top earners. Combined, the world’s 10 highest-paid soccer players are projected to earn $983 million this season, a record for the list but a modest 2% increase over last year.

A couple of new deals on the horizon could change that math, though. Erling Haaland, who comes in at No. 6 with $60 million and has scored 101 goals in 108 matches since arriving at Manchester City in 2022, is in the third season of a five-year deal and is already drawing interest from other top European clubs. An extension seems likely, although the future is less certain for his teammate Kevin De Bruyne (No. 10, $39 million), whose contract expires at the end of this season.

The uncertainty extends to Mohamed Salah, who could see his eight-year tenure at Liverpool come to an end next summer. Soccer’s eighth-highest-paid player this season at an estimated $53 million, he has yet to extend his deal at Anfield, telling Sky Sports this was “his last year at the club.” Saudi Arabia could be an option, considering Al Ittihad reportedly made a $197 million transfer offer for the Egyptian star in 2023.

“I just want to enjoy it,” Salah told reporters in September. “I don’t want to think about it—I feel I’m free to play football, and we’ll see what happens next year.”

THE WORLD’S 10 HIGHEST-PAID SOCCER PLAYERS 2024

#1. $285 million

Age: 39 | Club: Al Nassr | Nationality: Portugal | On-Field: $220 million • Off-Field: $65 million

With a social media following in excess of 900 million across Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), Ronaldo is the most popular athlete on the planet, and his online presence recently got even bigger with the launch of a YouTube channel in August. He needed only 90 minutes to cross the one million subscriber mark, shattering the platform’s record. “UR Cristiano” has since grown its audience to nearly 65 million and accumulated more than 544 million views on just 59 videos. Ronaldo’s more traditional partnerships include Nike, Herbalife and Whoop—in which he has an equity stake—not to mention CR-branded hotels, fragrances and underwear. All of those business endeavors will surely keep the 39-year-old busy whenever he decides to hang up his boots; Ronaldo’s contract with Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr is set to conclude after this season.

#2. $135 million

Age: 37 | Club: Inter Miami | Nationality: Argentina | On-Field: $60 million • Off-Field: $75 million

Just a few months after leading Argentina to its 16th Copa América title, and the second of his career, Messi has Inter Miami in a position to claim its first championship. The South Florida-based franchise has accumulated an MLS-best 71 points with one regular-season match to play, putting it in pole position to take home the MLS Cup when the playoffs begin on October 23. Win or lose, it’s likely not the last of Messi in Miami. He’s under contract for 2025 and has an option for 2026, with Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas telling Forbes in April that he’s “highly confident” his star striker will return. In the meantime, Messi boasts an impressive portfolio of partners off the field—including Adidas, Apple TV and Konami—and an Instagram account with more than 500 million followers. Last month, he also launched his own production company called 525 Rosario, named for his hometown in Argentina and the address of his family home.