Between fabulous salaries and generous extra earnings, here is the ranking of the highest paid footballers in the world in 2025: who is the player who earns the most among all the leagues?
Who are the highest paid footballers in the world? The world of football has long been synonymous with wealth, with the latest data confirming that only the players’ salaries are growing - even in Italy.
After all, football has long since transformed from a sport to a business, with the main clubs in the world all in the hands of hedge funds, emirs or various magnates, thus making the more romantic figure of the president-fan, very popular especially in Italy, disappear.
As always, Forbes has tried to answer this question, with the prestigious and authoritative American specialized magazine that also in 2025 has drawn up its ranking of the footballers who earned the most during the past year.
According to the figures released by Forbes, which took into account not only salaries but also earnings obtained outside the green rectangle of the pitch, the highest paid player in the world was Cristiano Ronaldo - the Portuguese is also at the top of the list of the richest athletes -, with Leo Messi and Neymar completing this special podium.
After all, Cristiano Ronaldo with his move to the Saudis of Al Nassr has secured a salary of 220 million dollars per season, while Lionel Messi last year was the footballer capable of earning the most from non-football activities: a whopping 75 million dollars.
The list of the 10 highest paid footballers in the world does not include Italian players, a sign of how our football is substantially in decline if we think about when Serie A was the Eldorado of players.
Highest paid footballers in the world: the 2025 ranking
Based on overall earnings - salaries, winnings, sponsorships and investments - these would be the ten highest paid footballers in the world in 2025 according to the Forbes ranking drawn up on last year’s earnings.
| Athlete | Club | Salary* | Other earnings | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Al Nassr | 220 | 65 | 285 |
| Lionel Messi | Miami Fc | 60 | 75 | 135 |
| Neymar | Santos** | 80 | 30 | 110 |
| Karim Benzema | Al-Ittihād | 100 | 4 | 104 |
| Kylian Mbappé | Real Madrid | 70 | 20 | 90 |
| Erling Haaland | Man City | 46 | 14 | 60 |
| Vinicius Jr. | Real Madrid | 40 | 15 | 55 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 35 | 18 | 53 |
| Sadio Mané | Al Nassr | 48 | 4 | 52 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 35 | 4 | 39 |
*Figures in millions of dollars
**In 2024 he played for Al-Hilal, at Santos since January 2025
Cristiano Ronaldo would be by far the highest paid footballer in the world by virtue of his pharaonic salary received from the Saudis of Al Nassr, but the Portuguese champion could also count on huge incomes that are not related to football.
As for income other than salaries or winnings in various tournaments, the number one would be Lionel Messi followed by the Portuguese champion and Neymar, the Brazilian star who has been out of action for some time due to injury.
Looking at this ranking, the prevalence of footballers who play in Saudi Arabia is evident, with only Real Madrid and the main teams of the Premier League that would seem to be able to compete with the Saudi clubs.
These salaries seem out of reach in Italy, given that the highest paid footballer in Serie A is Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic who earns "only" 12 million per season.
The pharaonic earnings of these footballers, but also the figures of their more highly rated colleagues are dreamlike, clearly indicate how football is literally inundated by a river of money: for some it would be a bubble ready to explode, for others instead football would be a sort of new business capable of generating dizzying turnover and profits in the long term.
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: La classifica dei calciatori più pagati al mondo nel 2025
