Alonso third-richest international athlete

[johncnet]

The 20 highest-earning International athletes

By Jonah Freedman, Special to SI.com

Roger still rules. The alltime leader in Grand Slam titles may not have won a major in more than a year, but the Swiss dominator still earns the most money out of the top 20 non-American athletes in the world. Federer's enormous endorsement portfolio puts him at No. 1, but barely a quarter-million more than No. 2 Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino boxer and congressman earned more than $50 million for two bouts over the past 12 months.

The average earnings of the International 20 hold steady at around $31 million, thanks to the strengthened power of European currencies, and buoyed by increasing earnings for global soccer stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and enormous payouts for top Formula 1 drivers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

In all, this year's list features eight soccer players, four motor-sports stars, three NBA players, two tennis players, two baseball players and one boxer. As always, our list includes salary, bonuses, endorsement income and appearance fees. For the Fortunate 50 list of the top-earning American athletes, click here.

1,Roger Federer
Tennis
Switzerland
Last Year's Rank: 1
$52,781,940

2
Manny Pacquiao
Boxing
Philippines
Last Year's Rank: 5
$52,500,000

3
Fernando Alonso
Auto racing
Spain
Last Year's Rank: 17
$45,000,000

4
Lionel Messi
FC Barcelona (soccer)
Argentina
Last Year's Rank: 2
$43,800,000

5
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid (soccer)
Portugal
Last Year's Rank: 4
$38,800,000

6
Yao Ming
Houston Rockets (NBA)
China
Last Year's Rank: 8
$35,686,100

7
Rafael Nadal
Tennis
Spain
Last Year's Rank: 9
$31,506,278

8
Valentino Rossi
Motor sports
Italy
Last Year's Rank: 7
$30,000,000

9
Wayne Rooney
Manchester United (soccer)
Great Britain
Last Year's Rank: NR
$29,200,000

10
Kaká
Real Madrid (soccer)
Brazil
Last Year's Rank: 11
$27,300,000

11
David Beckham
LA Galaxy (MLS)
Great Britain
Last Year's Rank: 3
$26,800,000

12
Ronaldinho
Flamengo (soccer)
Brazil
Last Year's Rank: 16
$25,800,000

T-13
Ichiro Suzuki
Seattle Mariners (MLB)
Japan
Last Year's Rank: 6
$24,000,000

T-13
Lewis Hamilton
Auto racing
Great Britain
Last Year's Rank: 10
$24,000,000

15
Carlos Tévez
Manchester City (soccer)
Argentina
Last Year's Rank: 18
$21,700,000

16
Dirk Nowitzki
Dallas Mavericks (NBA)
Germany
Last Year's Rank: 13
$21,278,618

17
Pau Gasol
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)
Spain
Last Year's Rank: NR
$20,822,187

18
Miguel Cabrera
Detroit Tigers (MLB)
Venezuela
Last Year's Rank: 19
$20,250,000

19
Frank Lampard
Chelsea (soccer)
Great Britain
Last Year's Rank: NR
$20,100,000

20
Michael Schumacher
Auto racing
Germany
Last Year's Rank: NR
$20,000,000

Sources: Salaries, winnings and bonus figures from players' associations, tour records, agents and news reports. Endorsement estimates from Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, other sports-marketing executives and analysts, and agents. Formula One estimates are from Formula Money. Salaries based on current or most recently completed seasons (exception: 2011 for NFL). For winnings-based sports (golf, auto racing, tennis), 2010 calendar year amounts used. Boxing purses are from June 2010 to May 2011.

[Tifoso]

Tiger Woods? :-E

[siberianlady]

Tiger Woods? :-E

He needs it to pay for the girlfriends............

[Brakefade]

And Alonso has to pay a good sum of that to taxes since he's moving to Spain. Ouch!

[mm154]

Tiger Woods? :-E

It says its "of the top 20 non-American athletes in the world" I think Tiger is still number one if they include Americans...

[Ste]

Not much compared to what Schumacher was earning in his first career. Over $80m I recall.

[scuderia_nano]

Not really a secret. Ferrari has always paid their drivers handsomely and only because they want the driver to pay back to the team handsomely with good performances. I think Lewis Hamilton going to Redbull might just shake the order a bit f that ever happens.

[scuderia_nano]

Not much compared to what Schumacher was earning in his first career. Over $80m I recall.

Schumacher has not been paid a penny for Driving for MERC and still manages to be in the top 20. So yes, you are right. Schumacher is the undisputed one here. Unless Fernando wins a few more titles.

[sav_pap]

At least they are driving. Raikkonen was the best paid. Crazy millions for not driving.:-P

[Lithium]

Schumacher has not been paid a penny for Driving for MERC and still manages to be in the top 20. So yes, you are right. Schumacher is the undisputed one here. Unless Fernando wins a few more titles.
Hmm, are you sure about that? As far as I recall Schuey's current contract is very generous, much more so than Nico's...

And it's not much of a surprise about Nando's fortunes. He's been paid very handsomely ever since 2007, when his 20M+ € or so per year McL contract came into place. When he moved back to Renault in 2008-09, Flav made him a very generous 20M+ per year deal, which was quite a change from his Renault glory years ('only' 6M € or so per year).

Edit: I've found more info about Schuey's Merc deal:
And contrary to reports that the sport's most successful racer would be earning just £6million, the German will actually rake in the biggest salary in F1 next season, totalling nearly £20m.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/motorsport/2009/12/14/mercedes-cough-up-20m-to-get-schuey-back-in-hot-seat-115875-21895870/
Not sure how accurate those fugures are though, as the exact numbers (obviously) never get released into public.

[Corey]

Speaking of salaries here, is MS and Kimi's contract the biggest one Ferrari has paid?

[Pekka]

Speaking of salaries here, is MS and Kimi's contract the biggest one Ferrari has paid?
Yes, but Im sure Fernando will get around the same amount of money as Kimi in the end..

[scuderia_nano]

Hmm, are you sure about that? As far as I recall Schuey's current contract is very generous, much more so than Nico's...
he biggest salary in F1 next season, totalling nearly £20m[/B].


I am sure mate. Because I remember reading in a lot of places when MSC was to comeback that If Merc paid him, he would be the richest driver out there even surpassing Alonso. He drives only for the sponsors. They are footing the bill because he is Germany's biggest sorts Icon.