Al Nassr captain, superstar Ronaldo continues to assert his position not only on the pitch but also in financial terms, with total assets far surpassing his colleague Lionel Messi.
According to the latest report from beIN Sports, by the end of 2024, superstar Ronaldo will own a total asset of up to 260 million USD (equivalent to about 4.3 trillion VND). This figure helps the Portuguese striker lead the list of the world’s richest athletes in the financial rankings.
Superstar Ronaldo’s outstanding financial performance in 2024 is no coincidence. This is the year he broke all personal income records, with money pouring in from many different channels such as salary, bonuses from Al Nassr, advertising contracts, image copyright and investments outside of football.
Since moving to Saudi Arabia in late 2022, the Ronaldo brand has not cooled down, but has instead expanded its influence in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi – who plays for Inter Miami in the US Major League Soccer (MLS) – owns a total asset of 135 million USD, only half of Ronaldo’s.
Messi is currently ranked third on the list of the richest athletes in 2024, behind Steph Curry, the NBA star who is in extremely impressive form. Although Messi still retains commercial appeal, especially after winning the 2022 World Cup, the financial gap between him and Ronaldo is becoming more and more obvious.
According to sports finance experts, the factors that make the difference lie in the personal branding strategy, the ability to maintain competitive form at the age of over 39 and the flexibility of superstar Ronaldo in expanding his influence in a superlative way to other areas such as business, entertainment and social networks.
In particular, Ronaldo launched his personal YouTube channel in August 2024, promising to be a tool to bring in huge revenue from advertising and content collaboration, in addition to his Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts that already have hundreds of millions of followers. Based on total assets throughout his career after adjusting for inflation, Ronaldo currently has 2.23 billion USD, making him the third richest athlete in sports history, behind only basketball legend Michael Jordan ($4.15 billion) and golf legend Tiger Woods ($2.79 billion).
The list of people behind Ronaldo includes many big names such as David Beckham, Neymar and Lionel Messi himself. This further confirms that, with a career spanning more than two decades, and the ability to maintain class and global reputation, Cristiano Ronaldo has become an icon of the global sports industry – where talent, perseverance and business acumen combine to create a sustainable personal empire.
At 39, superstar Ronaldo is not just a footballer, but also a “money-making machine” and a global brand icon. With his current influence, he could easily surpass the $3 billion mark in the next few years – a record that is almost unimaginable for any athlete who has ever appeared in the history of professional sports.
