Portuguese captain and star footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first athlete in football history to earn one billion dollars as per Forbes thereby beating his arch-rival and counterpart Lionel Messi off the field. Cristiano Ronaldo grabs the fourth spot in Forbes Celebrity 100 after he amassed earnings of 105 million dollars (before fees and taxs) in the previous year to become the first billionaire footballer.

Ronaldo is the first athlete to become a billionaire in a team sport:
The Juventus striker is the first billionaire from a team sport and only the third athlete to breach the one billion mark. Prior to him, boxer Floyd Mayweather and Golf legend, Tiger Woods achieved this gigantic feat. Mayweather had made a fortune from a cut of pay-per-view sales for his boxing matches, whereas, Woods earned extraordinary money on the back of his an endorsement deal with Nike.

As per projections, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star are expected to earn 765 million dollars in just wages by the end of his career. This amount is 115 million dollars more than what the 35-year-old, five-time Ballon D’Or winner has made till now. Cristiano is also the most followed sports athlete on social media platforms.

On the other hand, Lionel Messi has earned a total of 605 million dollars in wages since his debut for Barcelona in 2005. Messi, however, has more years till retirement left in him.

In the midst of a global pandemic due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Cristiano Ronaldo, recently resumed training ahead of the Italian league, Serie A’s restart.