The 35-year-old is also the third athlete ever to achieve this feat while still playing.
Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed the no.4 spot on the 2020 Forbes Celebrity 100 with a staggering earning of USD 105 million before taxes and fees in the last year.
Not only this but Ronaldo also finished ahead of his arch-rival Leonel Messi - who raked 5th on the list.
As per Forbes, the Juventus forward has become the first footballer in history to earn $1 billion across his playing time.
The 35-year-old is also the third athlete ever to achieve this feat while still playing, following the footsteps of golfing legend Tiger Woods, who managed to achieve the record back in 2009 on the back of his long-term endorsement deal with Nike NKE.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather earned similar figures in 2017 after his income from a cut of pay-per-view sales for his fights.
Cristiano has bagged over $650 million on the pitch during the 17 years of his playing career and it is expected that the iconic no.7 would earn $765 million in salary with his current contract with Juve, which ends in June 2022.
When it comes to Messi, the Argentinean has earned a total of $605 million in salary since 2005.
The only athlete who comes close to Ronaldo and Messi was former New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, however, he retired back in 2016 after earning $450 million in wages as a Major League Baseball player.
Former Manchester United and England playmaker David Beckham ended his career with total earnings of $500 million, half of which came from off-the-pitch endorsements.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players of all time, in the world’s most popular sport, in an era when football has never been so rich," said Sporting Intelligence’s Nick Harris, whose Global Sports Salaries Survey ranks teams worldwide based on total salary expense.
Earlier this year in January, Ronaldo also became the first individual with 200 million followers on Instagram. He now has 427 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter making him the most popular sports personality on the planet.
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