Top earning athletes 2022

The top athletes of the world have been chosen to provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of their performance as the richest athlete. This is because there are sports with more or less high competition from other teams in various leagues. For example, basketball is one of the most popular sports in the whole world. It has been rated the most profitable sport globally. Hence it is quite easy to predict who will win the championship of that particular year. It is a list of some of the top earners of athletes along with information about how they got a lot and what career path they took after.

·         LeBron James

He is one of the best football players of this century. His professional soccer was successful in the 2014-2015 season when he collected the Golden boot as well as the FIFA Best player honor. Apart from winning the FIFA Ballon d’Or, James bagged three awards, including four times named MVP award (2014-2015 season), two Olympic silver medals (2014 and 2015), six FIFA Player of the Century awards (2014-2015), and European Football Manager of the Year (2014).

In total, LeBron won the following championships at the time; 2015 and 2016, World Championship (2018-2019), American Championships (2011-2012), and National Title (2015-2018) in his career.

·         Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is a French professional footballer who is known as the richest athlete in the football game. He has become the icon of everything footballing. In addition, he is the son of legendary footballer, Lionel Messi. He played for Barcelona FC and Real Madrid. After making a comeback as a professional player, he played for Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain. He was named “the most valuable global player”. Besides, he earns millions of euros as well. He won La Liga in 2008, followed by La GPE in 2009, and then, the Champions League in 2017, winning 2018-2019. In 2015, he won the UEFA Youth League and after that, he was also included in the Team with No Limitations. He also represented PSG in the Europa League and then, was awarded man of the match against Tottenham Hotspur during the same tournament.

·         Neymar

Neymar was born a Brazilian to Spanish parents and raised in Brazil during the 90s and early 2000s. During these years he reached the final of both South America and Europe by being nominated for several major honors like Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award. From 2002 to 2011, Neymar is the second most expensive footballer of all time after Cristiano Ronaldo. On the 21st of July 2019, he was awarded the Gold medal for his great contribution to developing football in Africa and enlisted as the highest paid athlete. Along with the gold, he also won ten trophies, including nine world titles (2005, 2006, 2007-2009, 2010-2011).

Additionally, Neymar received eleven nominations for awards and four of those were golden gloves awards. Neymar is yet to play any club soccer now but as soon as he gets there he will become very famous not only among children but in the soccer world. Neymar is the first African with such achievements. But he hasn’t played for a single team to date.

·         Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest American basketball champions with the honor of the richest athlete. It is said that MJ was the hardest to coach at once, but he never gave up on his dreams. Most of the coaches gave him no chance even after 10th place in their league in the 1980s. In 1992s, Jordan became the youngest member of USA basketball history to win an Olympic Medal. Three years later Jordan became the highest scorer of all time. After joining the San Francisco 49ers in 1994, Jordan played 13 seasons in Chicago Bulls (1992-1994), LA Lakers (1995-1997), and LA Clippers (2000-2002). During the last five years, he retired due to an injury. However, he continues to train hard every day during the offseason to improve his skills.

·         Dwayne Wade

Dwayne Wade is one of the best Americans ever. Dwayne played 12 years in NBA between 1996 and 2004. And he is already considered one of the hottest football talents of the 20th century. He went through many ups and downs since then, but he never quit his dream that he never let go of at all. Now he is playing for Miami Heat and looking forward to it. There’s a reason why he got so good at shooting as well. In the recent past, he was regarded as the best player in the world. So it’s obvious that he had an amazing talent that helped him get better at basketball. He was selected for the second round of “The NBA draft” for the 2001 season. He won a title in 1998 with the United States. He went on to play for Detroit Pistons until 2003. In 2005, Dwayne became the only athlete ever to score 6,000+ points in a game, and he became the all-time leader for most field goals scored in a playoff game. In terms of the all-time triple-double record, Dwayne can be called the second-best player of all time only behind Kobe Bryant, and known as a highest paid athlete.

·         Julio Iglesias

Julio Iglesias is a former Argentine international soccer midfielder. And this guy is ranked number 7 in the world after scoring 109 goals while playing for Barcelona FC. As of the 2018-2019 season, he was still ruling soccer in Argentina. Unfortunately, after signing with Boca Juniors for 1 million dollars, he struggled for the last few months before finally returning to his hometown and helping Barca again, after 5 years. Moreover, Iglesias became one of the biggest stars of all time too. But unfortunately, his career is not much longer at present. Although, he is still active in professional soccer, where he plays for Ecuadorian giants Granada y Monterrey in Uruguay. As of the mid-19th century, he is ranked number 4 among the largest number of goal-scorers in the history of club soccer and is currently ranked number 41 only after having played 110 games for Barcelona FC and having scored 103 goals with 89 assists, helping them win 11 La Liga titles.

 

 

References

Kuusela, H. (2022). The hyperopia of wealth: The cultural legitimation of economic inequalities by top earners. Socio-Economic Review, 20(2), 515-538.

https://www.forbes.com/athletes/