World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2026

Snapshot 2026-09-14. The main table uses Forbes’s 2026 athlete earnings list. The window runs from 1 May 2025 to 1 May 2026, before taxes and agent fees. Cristiano Ronaldo is first at US$300 million for a fourth straight year and a sixth time overall, tying the largest single year Forbes has tracked since 1990. Canelo Álvarez is at US$170 million. Lionel Messi is at US$140 million, LeBron James at US$137.8 million. Football form and transfer value sit in Football Player Rankings.

Forbes 2026 totals

Figures are US$ millions. Every name in the top 10 cleared US$100 million for a third year, about US$1.4 billion combined. The 50 names add up to about US$4.1 billion, down from US$4.2 billion in 2025. Jannik Sinner is 50th at US$54.6 million, a higher cutoff than last year’s US$53.6 million. Shohei Ohtani’s on-field line is only US$2.6 million because most of the Dodgers deal is deferred from 2034; off-field he has US$125 million. Lewis Hamilton’s US$100 million is the first nine-figure year Forbes has recorded for an F1 driver. James is the only billionaire in the top 50.

The board is pre-filled by totals: S above US$150 million, A above US$120 million, B the rest of the nine-figure names, C and D ranks 11–15. Move the cards by sport if you want.

How this list is ranked

Snapshot 2026-09-14. The main table uses the Forbes 2026 athlete list and the top-10 article. The window is 1 May 2025 to 1 May 2026, before taxes and agent fees. Method: 2026 methodology. Women sit in the 2025 female ranking; for the third year no woman made the 2026 top 50 (Tucker). Football form and transfer value: Football Player Rankings. Esports prize money: Highest-Earning Esports Players 2026. Names: docs/glossaries/athlete-earnings-glossary.md.

Women (Forbes 2025)

For a third year no woman made the 2026 top 50. The latest female ranking is the 16 December 2025 edition; its window is not the same as the 2026 overall list. The top 20 made US$293 million, up from US$258 million. Coco Gauff leads at US$33 million, US$25 million of it off-court. Aryna Sabalenka is at US$30 million. Eileen Gu is at US$23.1 million, almost all off-snow. Zheng Qinwen is at US$22.6 million. Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina tie for eighth at US$12.5 million; the table stops at Osaka. Caitlin Clark is 11th at US$12.1 million and is not in the table below.

* Osaka tied for eighth with Rybakina at US$12.5 million.