Football superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, has become the fourth highest paid celebrity in the world, according to figures published by popular American magazine, Forbes, on Wednesday
The Portugal skipper, who recently won the European Championship with his country, takes home an annual sum of $88 million including salary and sponsorship deals.
The figures puts the Real Madrid forward ahead of rival, Lionel Messi, who earns a meagre $81.5 million – the eighth highest-paid celebrity on the list.
Meaning Ronaldo is the highest ranked sports personality followed by Messi and Cleveland Cavaliers’ star, LeBron James.
Multi-award winning American singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, with annual income of $170 million tops the celebrity list.
The 26-year-old is joined by British boy band, One Direction, earning $50 million less while author, James Patterson ($95m) is third.
Television personality, Phil McGraw, is joint fourth with CR7.
The only Sports woman to make the top 50 list of most highly paid athletes is 22-times Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, who ranks 40th – well above Maria Sharapova, who now ranks at 88th since her failed drug test at the Australian Open this year – with an annual income of $28.9m.
