There is no denying that Cristiano Ronaldo, the striker currently playing for Al Nassr Club in the Saudi Arabian National Championship (Saudi Pro League), has a very strong influence. Ronaldo has become the most followed person in the world, surpassing 1 billion followers, of which Instagram is his main platform with 648 million fans. Every year, Ronaldo generates 22.3 million news stories in the media worldwide, and is recorded 187 million searches on Google.
Despite such a strong influence, Ronaldo turns out to be far behind Messi, the Argentine star currently playing for Inter Miami in the US Major League Soccer (MLS) in terms of advertising income. There are books, there are numbers. According to statistics recently published by the prestigious magazine Forbes (USA), Messi leads in advertising income among football stars in the world. More specifically, the star who has won the Golden Ball award 8 times will earn 75 million USD in 2024 from advertising.
Messi has surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo, who earned only $65 million. Neymar is in third place with $30 million in endorsements. The trio have contracts with some of the world’s biggest brands. Cristiano Ronaldo has deals with Nike, Binance, Clear, Herbalife, and Louis Vuitton. Messi, meanwhile, is sponsored by major brands including Adidas, Pepsi, and Mastercard, Apple. Neymar is the face of brands such as Puma, Red Bull, Blaze, and Mercado Livre.
