Each year Forbes magazine establishes a ranking of the personalities generating the most income in the world. The caste of professional footballers, certainly privileged, generally figures prominently. With for this year 2025 a Top 10 dedicated to football which reflects the diversity and complexity of current football.
At only 18 years old, Lamine Yamal, the Barça phenomenon, joined the top of the basket with a crazy year which allowed him to accumulate 43 million dollars (around 37 million euros) – salaries, bonuses and various sponsorship contracts combined. The Merengues of Real Madrid are not left out since there are three of them to be invited in this Top 10.
Jude Bellingham thus finds himself ninth with $44 million more in his pocket (€38 million). Vinicius Jr is sixth with his 60 million dollars raised (€51 million). Kylian Mbappé, for his part, can boast of being the first footballer in the ranking to play in Europe, fourth with a total earnings estimated at $65 million (€81 million).
Peerless Cristiano Ronaldo
Unsurprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, crushes the competition, prancing at the top of the hierarchy with 280 million dollars received in 2025 (239 M€). Lionel Messi, exiled in the United States where he plays for Inter Miami, earned $130 million (€111 million). Karim Benzema, the scorer of the Saudi club Al-Ittihad, invited himself onto the podium, with a pharaonic budget of 104 million dollars (89 M€). For comparison, around ten years ago, then in the prime of his life and at the top of the football world with Real Madrid, the former Lyonnais earned 15 million euros per year on average.
The Top 10 highest paid footballers in 2025
Source Forbes
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr): $280 million (€239 million)
2. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami): $130 million (€111 million)
3. Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad): $104 million (€89 million)
4. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid): $95 million (€81 million)
5. Erling Haaland (Manchester City): $80 million (€68 million)
6. Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid): $60 million (€51 million)
7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool): $55 million (€47 million)
8. Sadio Mané (Al-Nassr): $54 million (€46 million)
9. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid): $44 million (€38 million)
10. Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona): $43 million (€37 million)
