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Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi: Who’s the Richest 2026 World Cup Player?
By Pete Grieve MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Here’s what we know about how much Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo get paid, how they invest and how they spend their money.
For two of the greatest footballers — and two of the richest athletes of all time — this may be the last World Cup they play.
In the twilight of their careers and now competing outside of Europe, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both preparing for their record-breaking sixth appearances in the 2026 tournament, which begins Thursday in Mexico City.
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Soccer fans already have their eyes on a potential quarterfinal clash between the two in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 11, should Argentina and Portugal win their groups and take care of business in the early knockout rounds.
Messi lifted his first World Cup trophy in 2022, bolstering his case in the greatest-of-all-time debate. But when it comes to career earnings, net worth and current contract, Ronaldo appears to have the edge.
Lionel Messi, Argentina
- Net worth: $1 billion (Celebrity Net Worth)
- Career earnings: $1.62 billion, not adjusted for inflation (Sportico)
- Annual earnings, 2026: $140 million total — $70 million on field; $70 million off field (Forbes)
The Argentina forward recently joined the billionaires club, reaching the milestone after raking in huge earnings at Paris Saint-Germain from 2021 to 2023 and signing his latest contract with Inter Miami. Messi’s move to the U.S. came with revenue-share agreements with Apple, which streams Major League Soccer, and Adidas for jersey sales. Messi will reportedly have the right to buy an ownership stake in Inter Miami at the end of his playing career.
The 38-year-old earned much of his wealth at FC Barcelona, where he played professionally from 2004 to 2021, scoring 474 goals.
The details of Messi’s current contract and his lifetime Adidas deal are not fully public. That’s part of why pinpointing the riches of an athlete like Messi is so challenging — and why numbers provided by celebrity wealth tracking sites should be considered estimates, not confirmations. Messi is a superstar with a variety of income streams across multiple countries, all with their own varying tax and investment laws. Plus, he has large real estate holdings and complicated brand partnerships around the world.
Some of Messi’s other deals include sponsorships and partnerships with Michelob Ultra, Mastercard, Lay’s (PepsiCo) and Hard Rock.
Messi owns properties in South Florida, Barcelona and Rosario, Argentina.
The soccer star and family jet in a Gulfstream V, which he purchased for $15 million in 2018, according to Simple Flying. Ibiza, Spain, has been among his most-frequented vacation spots for yacht adventures, according to Celeb Vacations.
Messi also has a boutique hotel venture in Spain called MiM Hotels, managed by Meliá Hotels International.
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Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
- Net worth: $1.2 billion (Celebrity Net Worth)
- Career earnings: $2.09 billion, not adjusted for inflation (Sportico)
- Annual earnings: $300 million total — $235 million on-field, $65 million off-field (Forbes)
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star now plays for Al-Nassr FC in the Saudi Pro League. At 41 years old, Ronaldo has the highest annual earnings of any athlete in the world, according to Forbes.
While Messi earns slightly more off the field in annual contracts, Ronaldo has the higher annual on-field earnings in 2026 of $235 million.
The Portuguese forward holds just about every accolade in the books and scored in the past five tournaments. But Ronaldo has yet to win a World Cup.
Portugal, which Ronaldo captains, is considered a strong side this tournament, with over 10% of sports betting volume on the team to win.
According to Sportico, Ronaldo ranks as the third-highest paid athlete of all-time, behind Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods in inflation-adjusted dollars. His career earnings now top $2 billion. He is the most-followed person on Instagram with 665 million followers.
His real estate empire includes properties in Lisbon, Madeira and Cascais, all in Portugal, plus homes in Turin, Italy, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, among other cities, according to Realtor.com. He travels in a custom Bombardier Global Express XRS plane.
Ronaldo’s most notable sponsorship is his lifetime Nike deal said to be worth $1 billion. Like Messi’s Adidas deal, very little is known about the structure. Other sponsorships to his name include Binance and Whoop relationships. He has a clothing line, CR7, and there are Ronaldo-branded Pestana CR7 Hotels in Madrid; Lisbon; Marrakech, Morocco; and other cities.
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Pete Grieve is a New York-based reporter who covers personal finance news. At Money, Pete reports stories that affect Americans’ wallets on topics including insurance, autos, housing, credit cards, retirement and taxes. He studied political science and photography at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper. Pete began his career as a professional journalist in 2019. Prior to joining Money, he was a health reporter for Spectrum News based in Columbus, Ohio, where he wrote digital stories and appeared on TV to provide coverage to a statewide audience. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN Politics. Pete received extensive journalism training through Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places reporters in newsrooms to cover underreported issues and communities, and has attended journalism conferences from organizations including Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. He has discussed his reporting in interviews with outlets including the Columbia Journalism Review, This Morning With Gordon Deal and WBEZ (Chicago's NPR station). He’s been a panelist at the Chicago Headline Club’s FOIA Fest and he received the Institute on Political Journalism’s $2,500 Award for Excellence in Collegiate Reporting in 2017. An essay he wrote for Grey City magazine was later published in a 2020 book, Remembering J. Z. Smith: A Career and its Consequence.