Football is played in almost every country, and most of the top stars in Europe have large salaries. The latest football rumours related to pay suggest that Cristiano Ronaldo makes $35million per season after leaving Real Madrid for Juventus.

The gross pay for Ronaldo is $64million, with Lionel Messi and Neymar, earning $84million and $73million respectively. If we are to include Ronaldo’s endorsement deals, the Portuguese ends up making $111million, according to the latest football rumours regarding pay.

Footballers earn not only through their basic salary but also endorsement deals, and that makes them one of the best paid athletes in the world.

However, F1 drivers are often considered as the fittest athletes in the world, and the strain they put their bodies through is on another level.

F1’s top dogs earn bucket loads too.

It would be difficult to name another F1 racer that is bigger than Lewis Hamilton at the moment. The current World Champions rose through the ranks at McLaren before stamping his authority at Mercedes.

The British driver signed a new deal with Mercedes in 2018 and Forbes adds that Hamilton will earn close to $50million through bonuses and other clauses in his contract.

The report adds Hamilton didn’t make as much as Ronaldo did via endorsements as in a 12 month period, the racer brought in just $9million through deals.

So, the best football player (arguably) in the world makes a lot more than the best driver (arguably) on the F1 circuit. However, the good people at Forbes had more information about what the average salary could be for a top European footballer.

What about the rest of the players?

In 2018, the average salary for a Premier League star was $3.9million, according to Statista.
China has proved to be a huge market for footballers too, and players such as Hulk make close to $20million per season, according to Forbes.

The Express did their own investigation about the salaries of the top 20 F1 racers from 2018, and it started with Charles Leclrec and Sergey Sirotkin making around $150,000. And the top four drivers, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Hamilton made more than $45million (an average of their salaries).

The best player in football makes more money than the best driver in the world, and the major factor are the endorsement deals.

However, things take a different turn when the average salaries of the F1 drivers are brought up. Last season, they made $12.24million on average.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/07/19/formula-one-star-lewis-hamilton-signs-100-million-contract-with-mercedes/#3d5b096a2abf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2018/07/10/cristiano-ronaldo-takes-a-wage-cut-and-leaves-real-madrid-for-juventus/#13eb3abc29a6

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2017/05/26/the-worlds-highest-paid-soccer-players-2017-cristiano-ronaldo-lionel-messi-lead-the-list/#133b46cb210e

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-autosport/992263/F1-driver-salary-2018-Lewis-Hamilton-new-contract-paid-most-sportgalleries

https://www.statista.com/statistics/675303/average-epl-salary-by-team/