EXPLAINED Why Messi and Ronaldo are missing from Forbes 2024 Billionaires list

Ronaldo and Messi are not yet Billionaires despite their status as two of the world’s richest footballers.

Forbes 2024 Billionaires list featured the world’s wealthiest men and women.

Forbes reports that this year is a record year for ten-figure wealth has which has made the billionaire class bigger and richer than ever.

The report also adds that there are now more billionaires in the world than ever - totaling 2,781 in all, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the record set in 2021.

Pulse Sports earlier reported that Michael Jordan topped the list of the world’s richest sportsmen following the latest rankings.

The American businessman and NBA legend is the no.1 richest sportsman in the latest Forbes billionaires list ($3.2Bn) surpassing WWE billionaire Vince McMahon ($2.6Bn).

Only six sportsmen (including active and inactive athletes) made the Forbes 2024 Billionaire Index as football’s big hitters - Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were missing from the list.

The billionaire sportsmen in the Forbes 2024 rich-list include:

1. Michael Jordan (Basketball) - $3.2Bn (+)

2. Vince McMahon (WWE) - $2.6Bn (-)

3. Toto Wolff (Motorsport) - $1.6Bn (+)

4. Tiger Woods (Golf) - $1.3Bn (+)

5. LeBron James (Basketball) - $1.2Bn (+)

6. Magic Johnson (Basketball) - $1.2Bn (+)

However, fans have since debated back and forth on why two of the world’s greatest football players are not yet billionaires despite commanding hefty throughout their legendary careers spanning over 16 years.

What does it take for an athlete to be considered a Billionaire?

Before an athlete is considered a billionaire, Forbes typically go through an extremely rigorous process to separate facts from figures.

These process includes scanning through Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, court filings, probate records and news articles.

A whole lot of other factors will be taken into account, including all types of assets: stakes in public and private companies, real estate, art, yachts, planes, ranches, vineyards, jewellery, car collections and more.

More importantly, debt and charitable giving must be factored in during consideration.

While it might be difficult to get every single piece of information, billionaires have indeed provided documentation for their assets and companies.

To value private businesses of athletes, Forbes combines revenue or profit estimates with prevailing price-to-sales, price-to-earnings or similar ratios for similar public companies.

However, Forbes have never hidden the fact that they shy away from family fortunes and measuring sovereign wealth, although, they list wealth belonging to the immediate family of the living founder of a fortune under the founder’s name.

Every year, Forbes also seeks to improve its methodology, looking for ways to more accurately uncover and measure the wealth of the world’s richest people.

Why are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi not yet Billionaires?

To be honest, it can be hard to tell the real time net worth of these two football stars, who currently headline the list of the world’s richest footballers.

However, the most possible reason for their exclusion from the Forbes’ 2024 Billionaires list once more, would be because they simply are not worth up to a billion in net worth based on their methodology for ranking wealth.

To be clear, Ronaldo and Messi have earned more than $1.3 Billion USD in career earnings, with the Portuguese superstar earning significantly more than his Argentine counterpart.

But earning up to a billion in career earnings doesn’t automatically shoot you into the Billionaires Club, when you factor in a whole number of variables as stated earlier.

Ronaldo currently has an estimated net worth of $600 million USD while Messi is estimated to be worth $650 million, as per figures from Celebrity Net Worth.

By 2025, Ronaldo is expected to have raked in more than half a billion from his current contract with Al Nassr.

Sportico estimates Ronaldo to have totalled over $1.9 Billion USD (inclusive of playing salaries, bonuses and endorsements) in career earnings by the time his contract with Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr ends in 2025, while Messi is projected to have totalled over $1.6 Billion USD when his current contract with MLS club Inter Miami expires.

Messi has also been presented with the opportunity to exercise his option of purchasing a stake in a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in 2026 - MLS clubs are generally estimated to be more valuable than most Premier League teams.

Ronaldo, the world’s highest-paid athlete, earned $275 million in 2023 alone thanks to his stupendous salary at Al Nassr, while Messi made a total of $130 million last year.

The Argentine maestro and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is expected to earn up to $150 million from his two-and-half-year deal before receiving additional compensation from MLS partners Adidas and Apple, as per Sportico.

However, these two superhuman athletes are yet to reach billionaire status in 2024, and it’s not hard to see why.

Ronaldo and Messi do have some investments ranging from real estate to tech, clothing, restaurants, private jets, and others.

However, the asset worth of these businesses are nothing compared to how much these players have earned on the pitch over the years.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are no doubt  poised to achieve billionaire status, although the exact timing remains uncertain.

Experts speculate that this milestone could be reached as early as 2025 or 2026 for the iconic football duo.

But regardless of when that happens, their immense talent, global appeal, and lucrative endorsement deals would have massively contributed to this highly-anticipated financial milestone.