Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1128274
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 JUNE 2019 21 SPORTS POWERLIFTING BARCELONA and Argentina forward Lionel Messi is the world's highest paid athlete, earning $127m (£99.8m) in the past 12 months, according to the Forbes top 100 ranking. Juventus's Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo is second on $109m (£85.6m) with Paris St-Germain's Brazil forward Neymar in third on $105m (£82.5m). Last year's highest earner, boxer Floyd Mayweather, has dropped off the list. Serena Williams is the only woman in the top 100, earning $29.2m (£22.9m). Five-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and former heavy- weight world champion Anthony Josh- ua are the highest earning British ath- letes, sitting at 13th on $55m (£43.2m). The American business magazine cal- culated the athletes' earnings by add- ing up their prize money, salaries and endorsements between June 2018 and June 2019. The top 100 includes athletes from 25 countries and their $4bn (£3,1bn) com- bined earnings are up 5% from the pre- vious year, when Mayweather was first with $285m (£224m). The American boxer's only fight since August 2017 was an exhibition boxing bout against Japanese kickboxer Ten- shin Nasukawa in December. Athletes had to earn a minimum of $25m (£19.6m) to make this year's list. Messi is only the second footballer to top the rankings after Ronaldo, and only the eighth different athlete to take the number one spot since the rankings be- gan in 1990. It is also the first time that footballers have ranked as the top three earners in sports. Messi is one of 38 non-American ath- letes on the list, with 62 US stars in the top 100. The NBA accounted for the most ath- letes with 35, with LA Lakers' LeBron James the sport's highest paid athlete in eighth on $89m ahead of Golden State Warriors pair Stephen Curry (9th on $79.8m) and Kevin Durant (10th on $65.4m). Messi is the highest paid athlete in the world Messi has scored 603 goals in 687 games for Barcelona