Argentine star Lionel Messi, captain of Barcelona, has become the second soccer player to enter the billion-dollar club, according to the American specialized magazine "Forbes".
Messi - the highest-earning player in 2020 with $ 126 million - joined Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, the Juventus striker and the traditional "Pulga" rivals, with the combined total of more than one billion dollars achieved by each of them in their careers before tax deduction.
The specialized magazine published a list of the highest-earning players in the world (annual salary, sponsorship contracts and advertising), and the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah ranked fifth in the list:
Messi (Barcelona) $ 126 million
Ronaldo (Juventus) $ 117 million
Brazilian Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) $ 96 million.
Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) $ 42 million.
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) $ 37 million.
French Paul Pogba (Manchester United) $ 34 million.
Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona) $ 33 million.
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) $ 29 million.
Polish Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) $ 28 million.
Spaniard David De Gea (Manchester United) $ 27 million.