Messi Surpasses Ronaldo, Named Highest Paid Player

According to a report released Tuesday by a Spanish University, the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), the Argentine received a mouthwatering €141m million while the Real Madrid man was valued at €101million.

The final figures which was determined by an Analytic Hierarchy Process multicriteria method in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, acknowledges variables such as number of goals, assists per game, bookings, leadership and marketing generated by the Argentine and Portuguese players.

But the salaries earned for their performances on the pitch are just part of the money taken home by Messi and Ronaldo. And it is away from the pitch where Ronaldo has an edge. According to Forbes, Messi took in $22 million in endorsement deals last year, while Ronaldo eclipsed him with $27 million.

The Portuguese last year made a $40 million investment into four ‘CR7’ boutique hotels and also has his own game, perfume line, clothing line, underwear line and has mansions in Manchester, Madrid, Portugal, New York (Trump Towers) and Morroco, plus endorsement deals with Sacoor Brothers, Nike, Emporio Armani, KFC, Coca Cola and motor oil company Castrol.

However, Messi on the other hand, excluding companies allegedly owned by him in tax havens, signed endorsement deals with Samsung and Adidas.