Ronaldo tops Forbes richest athletes list; LeBron, Durant, Kobe in top 10

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first athlete from a team sport in almost 20 years to top Forbes annual list of the World's Highest Paid Athletes on Wednesday (Thursday in the Philippines).

"This year I think is more reflective of what's going on in the sports world where salaries are sky-rocketing for team sports. The minimum to make the list this year went up $2 million to $20.8 million. It's the first time we've seen a team athlete head up the list since 1998 with Michael Jordan," explained Forbes senior editor, Kurt Badenhausen.

The financial magazine calculated the earnings figures include all salaries, prize-winnings and bonuses earned by active athletes between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016.

The top 100 athletes earned a total of $3.15 billion over the last 12 months, a slight decrease from last year's earnings of $3.2 billion, which received a boost from the historic $460 million earned by boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who topped last years list.

"We've seen an explosion in salaries with team sports, so the top paid guys in soccer, in basketball, in the NFL they can make — with the NBA's new television contract — we're seeing some of these guys make $30-, $40-, and in the case of Ronaldo and Messi, more than $50 million," said Badenhausen.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with earnings of $88 million ($56 million salary, $32 million endorsements), takes the top spot for the first time, which is also the first time for a soccer player. This is the first time since 2000 that someone besides Mayweather or Tiger Woods has held the top spot.

Tennis legend Roger Federer, despite a dip in performance due to injury, remains the king of endorsements raking in over $60 million in deals alone compared to this winnings of $7.8 on the tennis court.

The list of elite athletes consists of players from ten different sports. Baseball with 26 players, basketball with 18, football with 21 and soccer with 12 dominate the list. There are no hockey players on the list for a fifth straight year.

There are 23 countries represented on the Highest-Paid Athletes list, with Americans (65) the most prevalent thanks to soaring salaries in baseball, basketball and football. Five Brits landed in the top 100, led by F1 driver Lewis Hamilton at No. 11 with $46 million. Three athletes each made the cut from Argentina, Germany and the Dominican Republic.

Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who ranked No. 11 in 2015, is the biggest drop-off in 2016. Big Ben was listed at $48.9 million last year, thanks to his March 2015 contract extension that included a $31 million signing bonus.

The biggest gainer this year is PGA professional golfer Jordan Spieth, who moved up from No. 85 to No. 9, thanks to his $10 million FedEx Cup payday, new endorsements, rich appearance fees and sponsor bonuses from winning two major tournaments.

Once again the only women on the list were tennis stars Serena Williams (No. 40) with $28.9 million and Maria Sharapova (No. 88) with $21.9 million.

LIST (figures in million $)

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (football) $56 (salary) $32 (winnings) $88 (endorsements)
2. Lionel Messi (football) $53.4 (salary) $28 (winnings) $81.4 (end.)
3. LeBron James (basketball) $23.2 (salary) $54 (winnings) $77.2 (end.)
4. Roger Federer (tennis) $7.8 (salary) $60 (winnings) $67.8 (end.)
5. Kevin Durant (basketball) $20.2 (salary) $36 (winnings) $56.2 (end.)
6. Novak Djokovic (tennis) $21.8 (salary) $34 (winnings) $55.8 (end.)
7. Cam Newton (football) $41.1 (salary) $12 (winnings) $53.1 (end.)
8. Phil Mickelson (golf) $2.9 (salary) $50 (winnings) $52.9 (end.)
9. Jordan Spieth (golf) $20.8 (salary) $32 (winnings) $52.8 (end.)
10. Kobe Bryant (basketball) $25 (salary) $25 (winnings) $50 (end.)

— Reuters