Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first footballer to top Forbes list of highest-paid athletes - View full list

Cristiano Ronaldo has been listed as the highest-paid athlete in the world by  Forbes.

The Real Madrid star is the first footballer to ever top the annual list of the world's 100 highest-paid athletes, having earned $88m in the last 12 months

He earned $6.6m more than Barcelona's Lionel Messi, who is second with $81.4m

Full list below

Forbes top-earning athletes 2016

Name Sport Salary + endorsements ($m)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) Football 88.0

Lionel Messi (Arg) Football 81.4

LeBron James (USA) Basketball 77.2

Roger Federer (Sui) Tennis 67.8

Kevin Durant (USA) Basketball 56.2

Novak Djokovic (Srb) Tennis 55.8

Cam Newton (USA) American football 53.1

Phil Mickelson (USA) Golf 52.9

Jordan Spieth (USA) Golf 52.8

Kobe Bryant (USA) Basketball 50.0

Lewis Hamilton (Eng) Formula One 46.0

Tiger Woods (USA) Golf 45.3

Eli Manning (USA) American football 45.0

Joe Flacco (USA) American football 44.5

Tom Brady (USA) American football 44.1

Floyd Mayweather (USA) Boxing 44.0

Rory McIlroy (NIrl) Golf 42.6

Russell Wilson (USA) American football 41.8

Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Formula One 41.0

Philip Rivers (USA) American football 38.0