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The highest paid athletes in the world, in one chart

Published: July 26, 2017 5:48 a.m. ET

This graphic shows who makes the most money from both salary and endorsements

Image>http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-highest-paid-athletes-in-the-world-in-one-chart-2017-07-25?siteid=rss&rss=1

Two of the three highest-paid athletes in the world last year played soccer, and combined they made $173 million.

That’s according to a chart from HowMuch.net, based on figures from Forbes. As you can see, the highest-paid athlete last year was Cristiano Ronaldo, a 32-year-old soccer player from Portugal who has been named the best player in the world by FIFA, the international governing body for football, for the past four years. He made $93 million — $58 million in salary and winnings and $35 million from endorsements. The second-highest paid athlete was LeBron James of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, who made $86.2 million last year — $55 million from endorsements. No. 3 was soccer player Lionel Messi, who made $80 million; $27 million of that was from endorsements — and half of that was from Adidas alone. All of the dollar amounts in the chart are from Forbes.com.

The chart illustrates salary/winnings and endorsement income. Athletes from tennis and golf “tend to group up on the left side of the graph because they receive little pay from salary and winnings, but large endorsement deals,” according to HowMuch.net, which created the chart.

An extreme example of someone who made all his money ($37 million) from endorsements last year is golfer Tiger Woods. He hasn’t competed on the PGA Tour much over the past few years as he has battled injuries and personal issues. Another athlete who made most of his money from endorsements last year is the fourth highest-paid athlete: tennis player Roger Federer. He made $64 million, mostly from endorsements. That’s because he sat out about half of last year because of injuries. His endorsements include Nike, Mercedes, Rolex, Moet & Chandon, among others.