Although the Argentine star Lionel Messi failed to win with Barcelona in the European Champions League or his country in the Copa America championship last year, he was crowned the Golden Ball as the best player in the world, and the highest income athlete in the world also remains.
Messi topped the ranking issued by the American "Forbes" magazine for the 50 largest athletes in terms of financial income in 2019, with $ 127 million.
After Messi outnumbered his Portuguese rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, by crowning the Golden Ball six times, compared to five times for Juventus, he outperformed him in collecting the money as well, as the Don came to the title with an income of $ 109 million, followed by the Brazilian star Neymar ($ 105 million).
Although football stars ranked first in the top 50 income list in 2019, they included only five stars, with French star Paul Pogba ranked 44 ($ 33 million) and Spanish star Andres Iniesta ranked 46 ($ 32.5 million).
American basketball stars dominated the list of 20 players, led by legend LeBron James in eighth place ($ 80 million), followed by Stephen Curry ($ 79.8 million), and Kevin Durant ninth ($ 65.4 million).
While Mexican boxer Canillo Alvarez came fourth ($ 94 million), followed by Swiss tennis star Roger Federer ($ 93.4 million).
American football stars ranked nine on the list, led by Russell Wilson in sixth place ($ 89.5 million), followed by Aaron Rodgers ($ 89.3 million).
The list did not include any Arab athlete, as one of them did not reach what was won by the fifty-place in 2019 basketball player David Price ($ 31.7 million).