Paper Talk: Why Cristiano Ronaldo Really Is A Slave

The sporting rich list makes for curious reading. With all due respect, a vast majority of people worldwide reading the name Phil Mickelson would think it's a typo. But no, Mickelson - not Nickelson, or Nicholson, for that matter - is a 38-year-old American golfer, and renowned as the second best in the world. Avram Grant finished second in the Champions League, Premier League and Carling Cup in charge of Chelsea last season and got fired, Mickelson is second in the world and earned a staggering $62.3 million between June 2007 and 2008. Fair? Clearly, there's no such thing as a fair way on the fairway in the fast life of a golfer.

Lefty's hefty salary puts him at number two on the rich list of the sporting world and, if the second best golfer is the second highest earner, there are no prizes for guessing who holds the top spot. Arguably the greatest golfer of all time - and he certainly will be by the time he retires - Tiger Woods has for successive years been named the highest earning athlete in the world. The 32-year-old is making over twice as much as Mickelson - $127.9m - and looks set to become the first ever athlete to make over a billion dollars in earnings by 2010.

Role Of The Sponsors

Golf's monopoly on the top spots ends at second, as the 'global game' squeezes its way into the top three - and who other than David Beckham could come to soccer's rescue? Beckham cashed in $48.2m last year - far and away more than any other player - but contrary to popular belief, very little of that money is part of his basic contract. Noticeably past his prime as a player, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star earns approximately $5.3m-a-year from his contract with Los Angeles Galaxy. That may make him the highest earner in Major League Soccer, but there are many in Europe earning double that with their clubs.

Becks gets the majority of his money from Pepsi, Adidas, Police sunglasses, Sharpie permanent markers and whatever else he can get his hands on - and why not? He has even been able to ditch a big-money deal with Gillette and afford the luxury of some designer stubble and tell Brylcreem where to go when he shaved his head way back when.

Speaking of sponsors, there is no shortage of money in Formula One racing, no doubt due to the logos plastered all over each car like a collage gone horribly wrong. Lewis Hamilton's rise to stardom over the past 18 months has seen the money roll in at $27.6m per year, yet he's not quite in the same league as Kimi Räikkönen, with the emerging Finn hot on Beckham's trail with his cool return of $46m, though it could rise as high as $51m depending on his success rate. Fernando Alonso had been earning even more, but abandoned a lucrative contract with McLaren, switching back to Renault and having to settle for $35m, though that figure could rise back up to around $45m. To put matters in perspective, the invincible Michael Schumacher earned as much as both Alonso and Räikkönen put together when in his prime and the sporting world's highest earner, having since retired in 2006.

Thus when we turn our attention back to the golf course we see where the money really comes from. It is estimated that approximately $105m of Tiger Woods' overall earnings came from sponsorship deals. Mickelson, too, earns five times as much from his sponsors than he does on the golf course, by virtue of his every item of clothing being branded by the likes of accounting firm KPMG, Barclays bank and Rolex. We can say he chose his sponsors wisely - but who knew golfers were so marketable? After all, how many people are really watching when compared with other major sports? More than we thought, it seems - or maybe it's that golf viewers remain of the upper class and are in such a high financial bracket that advertisers go the extra monetary mile to attract their attention.

Contracts

But what about contracts? Surely they're the real measure of the athlete? To that end, great interest surrounds who has the biggest contract, or in other words, whose talent is worth the most money. The results are surprising: Beckham and Mickelson are among the lowest earners in the entire 'rich list' of top athletes, yet sponsors shoot them all the way up to third and second respectively. Baseball star Alex Rodriguez has far and away the largest contract in professional sport, earning an unbelievable $29m per year from the New York Yankees.

Behind him is Woods, followed by other top stars in individual sports. Take boxing: 'Pretty Boy' Floyd Mayweather gave Ricky Hatton the runaround on his way to earning $20m in December, remaining unbeaten and picking up another $20.25m in sponsors. Publicity stunts such as his infamous parading around in a Manchester United shirt to anger Manchester City fan Hatton have done wonders for the undefeated phenom's image worldwide, though his earnings may well have now peaked, as he officially announced his retirement in June this year.

Then there is Roger Federer - very much the Tiger Woods of tennis - who isn't far off the pace either. Total earnings of $35m make the Swiss machine far and away the highest earner on the court, despite his drop in earnings due to losing top spot in the world rankings to Rafael Nadal this year. Maria Sharapova, with $21.75m, is the only woman to make the list, though young golfer Michelle Wie may soon have something to say about that. Sharapova's winnings are the lowest on the entire list, but she earns almost 20 times as much through sponsors, showing the potential marketability of women in the sporting world.

The Rich List

Rank
Athlete (Sport)
Salary
Sponsors
Total
01
Tiger Woods (Golf)
$22.9m
$105m
$127.9m
02
Phil Mickelson (Golf)
$9.3m
$53m
$62.3m
03
David Beckham (Soccer)
$5.3m
$42.9
$48.2m
04
Kimi Räikkönen (Formula One)
n/a
n/a
$46m
05
LeBron James (Basketball)
$12.5m
$28m
$40.5m
06
Floyd Mayweather (Boxing)
$20m
$20.25m
$40.25m
07
Lionel Messi (Soccer)
$12.5m
$23.3m
$35.8m
08
Kobe Bryant (Basketball)
$19.5m
$16m
$35.5m
09
Roger Federer (Tennis)
$10.1m
$25m
$35.1m
10
Fernando Alonso (Formula One)
n/a
n/a
$35m
11
Alex Rodriguez (Baseball)
$29m
$6m
$35m
12
Shaquille O'Neal (Basketball)
$20m
$15m
$35m
13
Ronaldinho (Soccer)
$7.5m
$27.5m
$35m
14
Valentino Rossi (Moto GP)
$6m
$28m
$34m
15
Kevin Garnett (Basketball)
$22m
$9m
$31m
16
Peyton Manning (Football)
$17.5m
$13m
$30.5m
17
Cristiano Ronaldo (Soccer)
$11.4m
$18.9m
$30.3m
18
Derek Jeter (Baseball)
$22m
$8m
$30m
19
Ichiro Suzuki (Baseball)
$17m
$10.6m
$27.6m
20
Lewis Hamilton (Formula One)
n/a
n/a
$27.6m
21
Thierry Henry (Soccer)
$11.4m
$14.7m
$26.1m
22
Maria Sharapova (Tennis)
$1.9m
$18.85m
$21.75m
23
John Terry (Soccer)
$12.1m
$9.5m
$21.6m
24
Michael Ballack (Soccer)
$11.6m
$9.9m
$21.5m
25
Kaka (Soccer)
$13.4m
$6.7m
$20.1m

Not all top earners are included; many athletes - mostly basketballers - earning between $20-30m have been omitted so that the list did not get too long. Also note that no salaries or winnings figures are 100% accurate as they ultimately remain confidential.

Land Of The Free (And Rich)

The $30 million and above club is dominated almost entirely by American sports - basketball by far the richest, then baseball and to a lesser extent, football - it's only from then on that soccer's familiar faces enter the fray. Beckham aside, Ronaldinho also cracks Team America's stranglehold on the financial world of sport. Despite taking a pay cut to join Milan, the Gaucho is still thought to earn almost $35m annually, of which at least $27.5m comes through sponsors. The bucktoothed wonder may have temporarily lost his smile, form and fitness, but the money keeps rolling on in regardless by virtue of those years that he was quite simply playing like one of the greatest of all time.

His former Barcelona team-mate, Lionel Messi, is another who has hit the big time. Very much Ronaldinho's successor for the Blaugrana, the unstoppable Argentine's humble nature, garden gnome facial expression and two-dollar haircut might fool you into believing he didn't smash his way past $30m last year, but apparently, he did.

Naturally, we could only go so far without mentioning the undisputed centre of attention in the beautiful game, the most maligned of the moment, in Cristiano Ronaldo. C-Ron earned just over $30m last year, and Uncle Alex will no doubt be lining some Portuguese pockets with a little extra after the 23-year-old chose to stay at Old Trafford this summer, turning down his dream move to Real Madrid following a confidential heart-to-heart with the wily old Scot in July. In due time he is sure to soar all the way up this list, but for now, he surprisingly finds himself in a comparitively modest position on the rich list. Maybe Sepp Blatter was right all along, the multi-millionaire must really be a slave after all.

But let's forget the Messi and Ronaldo hype for a minute: what about the man who was voted as and officially remains World and European Player of the Year? Never fear, Milanello, as Kaka is in fact in possession of the most lucrative contract, worth almost $13.5m per year.

Ignoring the fact that A-Rod earns over twice as much in basic wage alone, let's remain focused on the positives: Kaka edges Lionel Messi in the contract stakes, despite his club being notoriously short of cash at the minute - so much so that they're still trying to convince themselves that Philippe Senderos isn't Arsenal's worst defender, Andriy Shevchenko isn't past it and Giuseppe Favalli didn't lose whatever little talent he had 750 years ago. Surprisingly, Kaka only picks up about $6.7m in sponsorship deals. The picture of professionalism, the Brazilian wouldn't look out of place on a golf course himself - it's a miracle he's not making more. Behind Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo is the next most marketable footballer - last year netting $18.9m in addition to the $11.4m from his contract - and his stock is bound to continue rising.

Another Barça player - the third of the erstwhile Fantastic Four - is the next highest earner in the game. Thierry Henry, who established himself as one of the best players in the world during his days with Arsenal, has contractual parity with Cristiano Ronaldo since signing for Barcelona. However, despite a lucrative deal he, Federer and Woods have with Gillette as well as his va-va-voom franchise with Renault, France's all-time leading scorer's sponsorship earnings aren't in the same league as either of them, at 'just' $14.7m. Poor Samuel Eto'o: no wonder he was so full of outrageous wage demands this summer - he was just trying to break even with his buddies.

The last of the money men are what can only be described as Roman Abramovich's boys - the Chelsea lot. John Terry and Michael Ballack earn $21.6m and $21.5m respectively, Frank Lampard is on the same $12.1m wage as Terry - a fraction more than Ballack for ego's sake and little more - while Didier Drogba is making $10.5m as well. We can't forget Andriy Shevchenko, who cost the Blues $60m and is still earning $11.1m a year, though on loan at Milan and no doubt in line for one hell of a pay cut if the move is made permanent as expected. What he and others such as Ronaldinho and Henry demonstrate is that often the most money will fall at the feet of athletes once they have already peaked - it's all downhill from there - yet they continue to make the most money off the back of former glories while the new school are making history in the now. Who might we see on this list in two or three years' time?

If Emmanuel Adebayor had his way, he'd probably be top of the pile now and forever, because he's just that damn good. However, as it stands, it is of little surprise that none of the Wenger boys made the cut, while Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is close but doesn't quite break $20m a year. Manchester United's top earner is thought to be Wayne Rooney, while Real Madrid super-stopper Iker Casillas, Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Internazionale and Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero are all close by as well.

At the end of the day, all of our leading stars in the world's most popular sport must resign themselves to the fact that basketball is twice as lucrative though half as popular, the fattest contract goes to a man who plays a sport which even a large percentage of Americans admit is boring, and the biggest sponsorship deals and overall earnings to two guys who star in a sport that athletes, doctors and your father tend to play during their time off. We could all be rich...


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