LIONEL MESSI VS CHRISTIANO RONALDO WHO IS RICHER?

LIONEL MESSI VS CHRISTIANO RONALDO WHO IS RICHER?
INTRODUCTION
Messi and Ronaldo are two names that have dominated the football world for the last decade. With 10 (ten) World footballer of the year and Ballon d’Or awards shared evenly between them, the argument on who is the finer footballer of the two is saved for another day. Numerous individual and team honours as well as several records have been set by these two elite footballers who have etched their names into the annals of football history. With enormous levels of successes achieved on the football pitch comes commensurate levels of financial gains.
The race for who is richer between two of the greatest individuals to have graced a football pitch is as close as their footballing achievements are. There is however a winner which in this case happens to be the Portuguese superstar Christiano Ronaldo. The diminutive Argentine comes within touching distance of his eternal rival.
CHRISTIANO RONALDO
Born Christiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro on the 5th of February 1985, the Maidera native is 5th on Forbes’ list of highest paid celebrities in the world for the year 2017 earning a staggering amount of $93 million. This amount is broken down into $58 million earned from salary and $35 million from his several endorsement deals. One time most expensive footballer in the world when Real Madrid paid Manchester United £80 million for his signature in year 2009, Christiano Ronaldo has continued to be associated with mega deals ever since. As his football profile continued to grow, so did his pocket. His sources of income are his huge salary earned from his lucrative contracts signed with football powerhouses Real Madrid and Manchester United, his numerous endorsement deals, sales of image rights as well as his several chains of businesses.
His current salary from his most recent contract signed in 2016 with Real Madrid fetches him around £365,000 per week. This deal runs until the year 2021. He may no longer be the best paid footballer in the world currently in terms of salary, but his numbers are still outstanding as only Neymar, Messi and Oscar are said to currently earn higher salaries.
Christiano Ronaldo is currently the most followed athlete on social media in the world. With over 275 million followers all over the world, it is no-brainer why top companies in the world are constantly falling over one another to have his signature on lucrative endorsement deals. His most significant sponsorship deal is with Nike. His most recent deal with them was signed in 2016 coinciding with the time he signed his latest Madrid Contract. His recent Nike contract is rumoured to be the second “lifetime” contract ever handed out by the sportswear giant. The first is a deal speculated to be in excess of $1 billion lifetime contract handed to Cleveland Cavaliers icon LeBron James. It is believed Christiano Ronaldo signed a similar contract. The $1 billion sum looks flattering but considering sponsorship analyst Hookit estimated Ronaldo’s social media presence was worth an astonishing $474 million to Nike in 2016 alone, the figure becomes more realistic. Prior to his latest renewal with Nike, his income from the sportswear giant is rumoured to be almost level with his remuneration from Real Madrid yearly, falling short by just a few millions. Exactly how his new Nike contract compares with his latest Real Madrid contract is currently not known due to the secret nature of his latest Nike contract.
Apart from his deal with Nike, Christiano Ronaldo also has had deals with Emporio Armani, watch giants Tag Heuer, Castrol Oil and gas and PokerStars. According to Sportcal, Ronaldo has had more than 31 endorsement deals. His deal with Emporio Armani ran for four years from 2009 to 2013. He earned $1.6 million yearly, earning a total of $4.8 million from that deal. Castrol Oil and gas signed him on a 2 year deal from 2009 to 2011. He earned $4.5 million yearly from that deal giving him a grand total of $9 million for the 2 years. His deal with Tag Heuer fetched him $1 million for the single year he spent with them. The deal was in 2014. He signed with soccerade sports drink company for an undisclosed amount in 2009. He also signed with Fast food giants KFC a 3 year deal that ran from 2013 to 2016. He pocketed $0.75 million per year from his KFC deal totalling $2.25 million for 3 years. He signed a two year deal with Konami in 2011. Details of that deal were not made public. He signed a year long deal with ZTE in 2016 worth $4.47 million. He signed a 5 year deal worth $0.5 million per year in 2013 with Herbalife. In the same year, he signed deals with Samsung and also with Jacob and co for undisclosed amounts. Also in the year 2013,he signed a $0.5 million year long deal with JBS. His 2014 deals include deals with Emirates Airlines, MTG and also Sportlobster. All these were signed for undisclosed sums. Also in 2014,he pocketed $0.5 million for his deal with Clear shampoo. In 2015, his deal with Abbott Laboratories fetched him $0.5 million. He also put pen to paper on a 5 year deal with smaaash entertainment in 2015, details of which were not released. 2015 also saw Christiano sign a deal with Altice for an undisclosed amount. He signed a deal with XTrade in 2016 also for an undisclosed sum. In 2017, Christiano Ronaldo signed a deal with Exness for $0.5 million for a single year. He signed a 2 year deal with PanzerGlass for the same fee also in 2017. His last deal for 2017 was with Egyptian steel for an unknown amount. His latest endorsement deal signed this year is worth $0.4 million with American Tourister.
Apart from representing several brands globally, Christiano Ronaldo has succeeded in creating his own brand around the CR7 image. He started with his underwear line but he has expanded to include various other clothing, leisure and also home products. His growing line of CR7 branded products now includes shoes, fragrance, jeans, blankets, gyms and also hotels. Ronaldo has two hotels named Pestana CR7 in Portugal. There is one in the capital Lisbon, and another in Funchal, his hometown on the island of Madeira. He recently opened his first gym in conjunction with Crunch in Madrid Spain named CR7 Fitness with some more to follow.
Christiano Ronaldo is estimated to have a net worth of between £200 million and £250 million. He is expected to add even more money to his account with more lucrative deals as well as further expansion of his business lines. He just doesn’t seem ready to slow down any time soon.
LIONEL MESSI
Born Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini on 24th of June 1987 in Rosario Argentina. Arguably the greatest talent to ever step foot on a football pitch, there’s no limit to what the “little magician” can do with a ball at his feet. The Barcelona and Argentina superstar has succeeded in translating his successes on the pitch to financial gains as well. He may not be as rich as a certain Christiano Ronaldo but he is surely a giant financially compared to most other athletes. He has played his entire senior career so far at FC Barcelona hence he has not been involved in any high profile transfers but his release clause in his latest contract is pegged at €700 million. This shows his value to his club and how difficult it will be to prise him away from Barcelona. His sources of income are his mouth-watering salary with Barcelona, his several endorsement deals as well as sales of his image rights. He is currently the second highest paid footballer in Europe earning in the excess of £500,000 per week. Only Neymar’s PSG contract trumps Messi’s. He reportedly pocketed £44.5 million as signing on fees from his latest contract according to Forbes report. The deal runs until the end of the 2020/2021 football season. Ironically, Messi has Neymar to thank for his new bumper deal as it was the latter’s departure that brought in a massive windfall for Barcelona and also freed up wages from the books.
Messi doesn’t command as much social media following as Christiano Ronaldo but still his appeal to brands for endorsement deals is not diminished at all by that fact. Part of Messi’s appeal to sponsors is his image as a clean footballer which he has cultivated over the years by taking little interest in the lavish lifestyle available to him off the field. His apparent lack of desire to branch out into other ventures and create a personal brand has in some ways become a brand in itself, and is attractive to sponsors. Messi also has numerous sponsorship deals much like his arch-rival Ronaldo. Their rivalry is continued off the pitch in the battle between sportswear giants Nike who have Ronaldo on their books and Adidas who signed Argentine. A couple of months after Ronaldo signed his “lifetime” deal with Nike, Messi also put pen to paper on a deal of a similar nature with Adidas. Much like Ronaldo’s deal, terms of Messi’s deal were also not disclosed but it is believed the deal will take him through till at least the end of his playing career.
Messi earns more, thanks to his agreements with Dolce, Pepsi, Gabbana and Air Europa. The FC Barcelona superstar has recently signed a one-year deal to become the face of Russia’s largest private bank and one of the official 2018 World Cup sponsors. The details of his deal with Alfa-Bank was not made public. Until last year, Messi was the poster boy for EA’s FIFA video game series, featuring on the cover four times. So looking at his current professional contract with Barcelona and his endorsement deals, he is making above $70 million a year making him the second highest earning footballer in the world. In 2017, Messi earned $80 million and was the 3rd best paid athlete in the world for the year according to Forbes. A further breakdown of his 2017 earnings showed he earned $53 million from salary and $27 million from endorsements. Half of his $27 million in endorsement money is earned from his Adidas deal.
Messi just like Ronaldo has ventured into the business world. Following in his rival’s footsteps, Messi bought a £26m luxury hotel in a beach town close to Barcelona. According to Spanish paper Expansion, Messi splashed the huge sum of money on the four-star-hotel which has 77 rooms. The hotel which is located at the beach town of Sitges, is very close to the beach which is about 40km from Barcelona. The hotel was built in 2013 and was recently named MiM. Prices for rooms at the hotel range from €250 to €300 per night. Messi made the purchase after establishing a new company for investment in hotels and apartments with himself as President and his brother Rodrigo the sole administrator. Lionel Messi has put money into the Azahares del parana project (a set of gated communities outside the city) which is his place of birth in Rosario, Argentina, as well as an apartment building in the centre of the city. He is also set to branch out into the leisure industry and launch an amusement park in China in 2019. In Nankin, South East China the “Messi Experience Park” has more than 20 areas of tourist attractions spread out this site covering more than 80,000 square metres.
His current net worth is estimated to be between £200 million and £230 million pounds. With his current fine form for his club, expect more money to fall his way in new endorsements as well significantly improved old ones this year.
CONCLUSION
From the facts and figures presented above based on available data on the finances of the top two current footballers in the world, it is evident that Christiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro has the nod over his rival Lionel Messi in terms of who has the heavier pocket of the two. The two superstars however stand head and shoulder above others in their chosen profession financially and are poised to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. They have proven to be elite footballers, it will not be surprising if both continue to pull off smart business deals in the business world long after their glittering football careers might have ended with their incursions into business. This is one rivalry set to last a lifetime.