Across all four corners of the world, athletes consistently earn a large amount of money throughout their careers. Numerous athletes have continuously accumulated fortune due to the success of their careers and other endeavors, placing them among the wealthiest athletes in the world.
Below are the Top 10 richest athletes in the world; athletes from all sports, including football, golf, boxing, basketball, and others, are included in this list.
#10 Christiano Ronaldo - $470 Million
Christiano Ronaldo is a Premier League Club Manchester United forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is a famous professional football player from Portugal. In the history of football, Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time.
In the Champions League, Ronaldo holds the record for most appearances, goals, and assists. He also owns the record in the European League for most international goals and appearances. He is one of the athletes with more than 1,100 appearances under his category and for club and country, with more than 800 official senior goals.
Ronaldo significantly promoted EA Sports’ FIFA 18 video game and served as its cover star. He has accumulated a net worth of $470 million during his career.
#9 Eddie Jordan - $480 Million
Eddie Jordan, also known as Edmund Patrick Jordan, is a former race car driver. He is a businessman and runs a racing team. He is also a big name in the entertainment industry, being a tv actor and a musician. From 1991 to 2005, Jordan founded the Formula One construction Grand Prix.
After winning the 1971 Irish Kart Championship, Eddie Jordan switched to Formula Ford in 1974. Jordan Grand Prix, a Formula One constructor from 1991 to 2005, was founded and owned by him. He became the BBC’s lead analyst for Formula One from 2009 to 2015.
With the help of his numerous business endeavors and career, Eddie Jordan has effectively amassed a fortune. As of 2022, he is one of the world’s well-off athletes, with a net worth of $480 million, despite being retired.
#8 Lebron James - $490 Million
Lebron Raymone James Sr. is an American NBA player who brought his team, LA Lakers, to the limelight because of his abilities. He is usually coined as “King James” and is considered the greatest basketball player of all time.
He is frequently compared to Michael Jordan. He received various awards, such as NBA MVP awards, NBA Finals MVP awards, three All-Star MVP awards, two Olympic gold medals, and All-Star MVP awards.
James is second in the list of lifetime points scored, second-most playoff points, and seventh-most assists in his professional basketball career. 18 times as a member of the All-NBA Team, 18 times as an NBA All-Star, and 5 times as a first-team member of the NBA’s defensive all-star team, James has taken part in the third-most NBA Finals.
Out of ten, he participated in eight of them continuously between 2011 and 2018. James became the first player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 10,000 assists in a single season in 2022 after being selected for the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
James is the founder of the Akron-based LeBron James Family Foundation. Since 2005, the organization has held a yearly bike-a-thon to raise money for various causes. King James was also listed as among the 10 highest-paid athletes and one of the richest players in the NBA, with a net worth of $470 Million.
#7 Floyd Mayweather - $510 Million
Floyd Mayweather is a famous American boxer and promoter. Welterweight, Super Welterweight, Junior Welterweight, Lightweight, and Super Featherweight were among the six weight classes in which he won championships throughout his career. He also won six times in boxing championships with an incredible record of 50 wins and 0 losses in professional boxing, and 27 of the 50 victories were knockouts.
Mayweather still spends millions on expensive toys and has more than 100 of them. His Las Vegas mansion’s garage contains nearly $15 million worth of automobiles that he has never driven. The boxer never lost and has a keen eye for jewels, particularly diamonds. He owns several diamond-encrusted watches, bracelets, chains, and other accessories.
Mayweather’s net worth is around $510 Million from his earnings in boxing and from his other investments.
#6 Junior Bridgeman - $602 Million
American former professional basketball player Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman is also an entrepreneur. He spent 12 years with the Los Angeles Clipper and Milwaukee Bucks during his career. Later, he made investments in fast-food chains. With a $602 million net worth, Junior Bridgeman is currently the sixth richest athlete in the world behind Micheal Schumacher with $605 Million.
Junior Bridgeman is also an entrepreneur who invested in fast food chains and franchised different Wendys and Chili’s. Bridgeman worked and studied Wendy’s fast food restaurant franchise business concept throughout the off-seasons of his American football career. He invested in the company after his NBA career was made and eventually owned over 100 different Wendys and Chili’s before selling in 2016.
As president and chief executive officer of Bridgeman Foods Inc., Bridgeman became a bottler for The Coca-Cola Company in 2017. After Ebony and Jet filed for bankruptcy in 2018, Bridgeman acquired the Canadian bottling facilities for $14 million in December 2020 through Bridgeman Sports and Media.
#5 Micheal Schumacher - $605 Million
German auto racer Micheal Schumacher is now retired. He is considered the all-time best Formula 1 driver who holds the record for most Grand Prix victories across the globe with his seven world championship wins. This champion, known as “Campionissimo” by Italian Ferrari fans, is regarded as the most well-known German in the entire globe.
In 2010, he returned to F1 with the Mercedes team. He lasted three years with the team, earning one podium, one fastest lap, and one pole position in Monaco (which was later taken away owing to a penalty). Lewis Hamilton took his spot for the 2013 Formula One season and left the sport.
Despite his retirement in 2006, he is still one of the 10 richest athletes, with a net worth of $605 Million.
#4 Magic Johnson - $620 Million
American basketball player Magic Johnson is now retired. He spent 13 seasons as a member of the LA Lakers club in the NBA and received numerous player accolades. He is among the most well-liked NBA players and the highest-paid sports stars (Basketball).
“A Midsummer Night’s Magic” is an annual charity event that Magic Johnson created. It features a celebrity basketball game during a black-tie dinner. Johnson held the event for twenty years, ending in 2005, with the revenues going to the United Negro College Fund.
He is also an entrepreneur and worked as a commentator for NBC, who traveled in various countries together with his team members. Magic Johnson of the LA Lakers is in charge of the basketball operations of his team. With a net worth of $620 million, he belongs to the list of wealthiest athletes in the world.
#3 Tiger Woods - $850 Million
Professional American golfer Tiger Woods is among the world’s most accomplished golfers. Other than being one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, he is also on the list of wealthiest athletes across the globe, with a whopping net worth of $850 million.
Tiger Woods has 15 major titles and 82 PGA Tour victories. With all the fame, he has been coined “the best closer in history” by numerous golf enthusiasts. His career scoring average is the lowest on the PGA Tour, and he has earned the most money overall.
Woods is number 1 in world rankings for most weeks overall in a row. He was the youngest player who completed the quest In Lifetime Grand Slam, which led him to be victorious in all four major titles in a single career.
#2 Ion Tiriac - $1.3 Billion
Ion Tiriac, also known as Brasov Bulldozer, played ice hockey and tennis professionally before retiring. He created the Mutua Madrid Open Tennis Tournament after his retirement. He also oversees the career of French tennis star Lucas Poille.
He was a previous member of the ATP Tour’s top 10 singles players and the 1970 French Open men’s doubles champion. In 1975, Iriac was the first man to play against a woman (Abigail Maynard) in a competitive tennis match and win in one set in a competitive tennis match was Iriac. He played defense for the Romanian national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics, which served as the apex of his ice hockey career.
Despite being retired as an athlete a few decades ago, Ion Tiriac is still included in the list of 10 richest athletes with a net worth of $1.3 Billion.
#1 Michael Jordan - $2.25 Billion
Before he retired, American professional basketball player Michael Jordan participated in 15 seasons of the NBA with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. With a net worth of $2.25 billion, Michael Jordan is the most wealthy sportsman in the world as of 2022.
Jordan has established an even more successful career than any former athlete that we have ever seen since he retired 15 years ago. Both the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets and the NASCAR Cup’s Series of 23XI Racing are owned by and run by Michael Jordan.
In 2016, Jordan was the first NBA player to earn a billion dollars, and in the same year, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama. Michael Jordan’s net worth is $2.25 billion as of 2022.