Cristiano Ronaldo Retains Top Spot In Sport Rich List After Earning Staggering £71.8m In 2017

Cristiano Ronaldo is top-class on the footballing pitch and now he has grabbed the top spot in the list of the world’s highest-paid athlete.

Forbes have published an annual list of the world’s 100 best-paid sportsman and Ronaldo leads the pile with a total earning of £71.8million.

This is the second consecutive year that the Portugal skipper has finished at the top of the list.

Next to him is basketball star LeBron, who took home a staggering £66.6m in 2017 whilst Ronaldo’s arch-rival Lionel Messi finished third after pocketing £61.8m.

Ronaldo earned a salary of £44.8m salary from Real Madrid and the rest came from endorsements.

Before Ronaldo documented his name at the top, it was a two-way affair between Tiger Woods or Floyd Mayweather for 15 years in a row.

Woods has finished 17^th in the list this year despite seeing off troubles on and off the golf course and Mayweather has not made it to the top 100 having failed to land a fight last year.

A total of 32 basketball players found themselves in the top 100 and it is understood that their salaries skyrocketed as the sport grabbed a £18.5billion TV rights deal.

Rory McIlroy finished seventh after taking home £38.6m and Lewis Hamilton stood tenth in the pile after pocketing £35.5m.

The next footballer in the top 100 is Barcelona superstar Neymar who earned £28.72m whilst Gareth Bale finished 24^th after taking home £8.52m.