Who is the richest player, Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi?

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have established themselves over the last 15 years as the most successful footballers in the world, which translated into exorbitant financial incomes and millionaire contracts everywhere. A few months ago it was known that both exceeded 100 million dollars in profits during 2020.

The Argentine entered their coffers 126 million dollars in the last year (92 million for his salary at Barcelona and another 34 for advertising contracts) , while the Portuguese received 117 million dollars (70 million annual salary at Juventus and 47 million for advertising).

There is so much money that both athletes have received throughout their professional careers that for years they have invested a good part of their income in businesses of all kinds, although they have also allocated another important amount to indulge in luxuries and well-deserved eccentricities.

Among world football fans there is a recurring interest in knowing how much the fortunes of Messi and Cristiano climb, and which of the two wins head-to-head. The Portuguese has a slightly higher heritage than the Argentine and we explain why below.

Lionel Messi: what is his fortune?

Specialized media have estimated that Lionel Messi has earned more than 800 million dollars throughout his more than 16-year career. Clearly, not all that amount of money is what makes up your wealth, since much was invested or spent over the years. The Barcelona captain has a hotel chain with four hotels distributed in the Spanish towns of Ibiza, Mallorca and Sitges and Baqueira Beret.

Similarly, according to Forbes Argentina magazine, Messi invested part of his money in a theme park in China and owns a skyscraper in his country that is more than 125 meters high and has an infrastructure with 40 floors of apartments.

The ‘10’ also owns a mansion 25 kilometers from Barcelona that costs several million dollars and the media does not quite identify all the properties or investments that the left-handed attacker has made in recent years. Anyway, this year Forbes Argentina calculated that Messi's fortune or net worth is close to 400 million dollars.

Cristiano Ronaldo: what is his fortune?

The comparison of the fortunes of Messi and ‘CR7’ begins in favor of the Juventus attacker with no less data. This year, according to the calculations of the North American magazine Forbes, Cristiano became the first footballer in history to exceed 1,000 million dollars in earnings during his entire career. In large part, it is his advertising contracts that have made a considerable difference to Messi's income.

Since he established himself as one of the best footballers in the world, Ronaldo faced his success with a business vocation that few have. That is why over the last few years he and his agent, the Portuguese Jorge Mendes, have worked hand in hand to make the best use of the goalscorer's wealth.

There are numerous investments that ‘CR7’ has made. That list, reviewed by GQ magazine, is made up of a hotel chain, a sector in which Messi has also been involved, a hair clinic, his own perfume and underwear brand, a chain of gyms with offices in Portugal and Spain and up to two own video games for cell phones.

So how much is Cristiano Ronaldo's fortune? In September of last year, an interview that the Portuguese gave to a British journalist went around the world in which he assured that he calculated that his assets were around 500 million dollars.