Cristiano Ronaldo has again been named the highest-paid player in the world, while Barcelona‘s phenom Lamine Yamal is on the list of the top 10, according to Forbes.

The American business magazine released its annual report of the world’s 10 highest earners.

The Forbes ranking reflects on-field earnings estimates for the 2025-26 season, including base salaries, bonuses and, club-based image rights agreements.

Ronaldo, 40, who on June signed a new two-year deal with Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr, is projected to claim $280 million in total earnings over the coming year before taxes and agents’ fees.

The Portugal captain, who recently declared he has no plans to retire as he is “still producing good things,” will earn $230m from Al Nassr during the 2025-26 season plus $50m in off-field earnings.

Ronaldo, who has over 1 billion total followers across his various social media accounts, leads the Forbes list for the sixth time in the last decade.

Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is the only MLS representative on the list and is a distant second to Ronaldo.

The Argentina captain’s projected total income for 2025 is $130 million, with a whopping $70m coming from off-field earnings. Messi, 38, has endorsement deals with Adidas, Lay’s and Mastercard, among others.

Yamal, who inherited Barcelona’s iconic No. 10 shirt once worn by Messi, is the first 18-year-old to enter Forbes’ soccer list in its 22-year history.

The Spain international put pen to paper on a 10-year contract with Barcelona in May. He completes the ranking with expected earnings of $43m.

Karim Benzema has climbed to third place, with the Al-Ittihad captain estimated to make around $100m on the pitch and around $4m off it.

Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland is one of two Premier League players included. The Norwegian star’s estimated $80m earnings, some of which comes from his lucrative endorsement deal with Nike, place him at No. 5 while Liverpool‘s Mohamed Salah, who signed a two-year deal to remain at Anfield this summer, is seventh at $55m.

– Ronaldo nets 2 to set WCQ goal-scoring record
– Cristiano Ronaldo football’s first billionaire player – report
– Ronaldo: Family ask me to stop, but I want 1,000 goals

LaLiga have four players in the top 10, with Real Madrid‘s Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham fourth ($95m), sixth ($60m) and ninth ($44m), respectively.

Ronaldo’s Al Nassr teammate Sadio Mané is No. 8, expected to get $54m.

In total, the 10 highest paid players are set to collect record earnings worth $945 million this season, down nearly 4% from last year’s $983m.

Brazilian forward Neymar was No. 3 on last year’s list but has fallen out of the ranking since leaving Al Hilal earlier this year to rejoin boyhood club Santos.

Forbes’ top 10 high-paid players 2025:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – $280m (On-field: $230m, off-field: $50m)
2. Lionel Messi – $130m (On-field: $60m, off-field: $70m)
3. Karim Benzema – $104m (On-field: $100m, off-field: $4m)
4. Kylian Mbappé – $95m (On-field: $70m, off-field: $25m)
5. Erling Haaland – $80m (On-field: $60m, off-field: $20m)
6. Vinícius Júnior – $60m (On-field: $40m, off-field: $20m)
7. Mohamed Salah – $55m (On-field: $35m, off-field: $20m)
8. Sadio Mané – $54m (On-field: $50m, off-field: $4m)
9. Jude Bellingham – $44m (On-field: $29m, off-field: $15m)
10. Lamine Yamal – $43m (On-field: $33m, off-field: $10m)

Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo once again topped the Forbes highest-paid footballers list for the 2025-26 season, as one of three members of the top 10 plying their trade in Saudi Arabia.

It is the sixth time in the last decade that Ronaldo has topped the Forbes list and comes just over a week after Bloomberg announced that the 40-year-old had become football’s first billionaire.

With on- and off-field earnings of an estimated $280 million, Al Nassr’s Ronaldo will earn more than double that of second-placed rival Lionel Messi, whose $130 million estimate is made up of more off-field earnings than those from playing for his US club Inter Miami.

Next up is French former Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, who earns $104 million a year thanks to his huge contract at Saudis Al Ittihad.

The third member of the top 10 playing in Saudi Arabia is Senegalese forward Sadio Mane, a teammate of Ronaldo’s who earns an estimated $54 million in eighth.

The number of players from Saudi clubs in the top 10 compared to a year ago has dropped by one as Brazil’s Neymar left Al Hilal in January to return to his boyhood club, Santos in Sao Paulo.

He had been third on the list with $110 million in 2024-25 but now apparently earns a paltry $38 million, mostly from off-field contracts.

Despite the power and wealth of the English Premier League — whose clubs spent a record £2.6 billion ($3.5 billion) on transfers in the summer window — only two players from that competition make the top 10 with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland fifth and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah seventh.

But it is Spain’s La Liga that has the most representatives in the top 10, including three Real Madrid players in Kylian Mbappe (fourth), Vinicius Jr (sixth) and Jude Bellingham (ninth).

While the fourth player from Spain is Barcelona’s teenage starlet Lamine Yamal, who is 10th with $43 million.

“Combined, the world’s ten highest-paid soccer players are set to earn an estimated $945 million during the 2025-26 campaign,” Forbes said in a statement.

SEATTLE — Luis Castillo‘s smile was small and tight as he heard Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson tell him on the mound that he was being replaced. It was the third inning of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, with the Mariners trying to hold off the Toronto Blue Jays, who had already won one game on the Mariners’ home field. Castillo, who had thrown fewer pitches than he had in any of his 247 starts in the major leagues, nodded in assent — if not agreement — and handed the ball to his manager.

What happened before Wilson’s decision was bad; what occurred after was worse. The Mariners’ relievers failed to contain the Toronto offense, in an 8-2 loss, and with the series tied at two games apiece, Seattle will go into Game 5 with its pitching options even more complicated by how Wilson’s choices played out.

Every postseason decision is evaluated through the prism of the result, which is not always fair but is October reality.

“You make decisions,” Wilson said after the game, “and you have to live with them.”

What the Mariners’ staff had talked about going into Game 4, Wilson explained, was that Seattle wanted to be aggressive in going to the bullpen. When Toronto blew out the Mariners in Game 3, Wilson was able to hold back all of his best relievers: Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Munoz. Additionally, Bryan Woo — who had been Seattle’s best pitcher before getting hurt Sept. 20 — would be available out of the bullpen, if Wilson found a suitable opportunity.

Castillo is a three-time All-Star, the most accomplished of the Mariners’ vaunted rotation of starting pitchers, known for his sturdy reliability. He has also had a year of diminished stuff, with his swing-and-miss rate the lowest of his career; Toronto had scored eight runs in 10 innings against him during the regular season.

In the first two innings Thursday, Castillo threw crisply, attacking the strike zone with a fastball that reached 95 mph. But in the third inning, everything changed. Isiah Kiner-Falefa pulled a double down the third-base line, and with a 3-2 count, Andres Gimenez pulled a slider into the right-field stands, giving the Jays a 2-1 lead. Relievers began stirring in the Seattle bullpen, and as Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled, Speier quickly warmed up. Too many pitches in the middle, Cal Raleigh would say later.

Alejandro Kirk drew a walk to load the bases. Wilson’s options in that moment: stick with Castillo, or summon Speier, a lefty, to face left-handed hitting Daulton Varsho.

Wilson emerged from the dugout and didn’t immediately signal to the bullpen; rather, he spoke to Castillo, telling him he was intending to call on Speier. Castillo had thrown only 48 pitches, the fewest in his nine-year career. He returned to the dugout and watched the rest of the inning play out from the top step.

“It’s a tough decision,” Wilson said, “and it was not an easy one to tell him. But that’s what we went with.”

Varsho fell behind 1-2 in the count, but he fouled off two pitches and worked the count full before drawing a walk. Toronto’s lead was 3-1. Speier struck out the next two hitters to avoid further trouble, and Castillo met him with a high-five as he stepped into the dugout.

In the next inning, Speier pitched himself into trouble again. After a Kiner-Falefa single and a sacrifice bunt, right-handed hitting George Springer batted next.

Wilson had three options in that moment:

He could have summoned Brash, his best set-up man, to face Springer. He could have effectively compelled Speier to pitch around Springer. Or, with the left-handed hitting Lukes on deck and Guerrero set to follow, he could allow Speier to face Springer.

Wilson went with the third option, and Springer ripped a double into the left-field corner, extending the Jays’ lead to 4-1. By the time Lukes grounded out, Speier — the best left-handed option in the Seattle bullpen — had thrown 32 pitches, more than any outing in his career.

Wilson summoned Brash into the game with the Mariners down by three runs — probably not the situation the manager envisioned at a time when his team was leading the series. Seattle’s bullpen had to cover 20 outs Thursday.

Bryce Miller starts Friday, in the Mariners’ final chance to win a championship series game in front of their home crowd. This series is guaranteed to return to Toronto — but whether it does with a Seattle lead is up to Miller and a bullpen that was used heavily in Thursday’s loss.

“We did use bullpen guys tonight, but they were very well rested again,” Wilson said. “So I think that we’re still in good shape in terms of our bullpen and also, we have Bryan down there as well, and we’ll utilize him when the time is right.”

It is unclear how Castillo felt about all of this. In his time with the Mariners, he has been known for consistently sticking around to answer questions after his starts, good or bad. But by the time reporters were permitted into the Mariners’ clubhouse after Game 4, Castillo was gone.