As the category is football (original name of soccer)
then
1. David Beckham ($40m)
His earnings totalled $40m in 2010, making him the world's highest earning footballer as of April 2011. This figure placed him at number 39 on the money list of the Forbes Celebrity 100. He has over 9m Facebook fans, and his sponsors include Adidas and Samsung.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo ($38m)
Last year he earned $38m, just $2m behind Beckham. This total placed him at number 44 on the money list of the Forbes Celebrity 100 - just ahead of Arsenal fan Jay-Z. He has more than 24 million Facebook fans, more than twice as many as any other athlete in the world. He has 2.4m Twitter followers, ranking him the 4th highest athlete there. His sponsors include Nike, Coca-Cola, Castrol and Armani.
3. Lionel Messi ($32m)
The Barcelona and Argentina star earned $32m last year. This ranked him number 56 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 money list. He gained 7 million Facebook followers in a month. $16m of hos earnings came from Barcelona, and the other $16m came from deals with the likes of Adidas, Konami, and Air Europa.
4. Kaka ($25m)
Ricardo Kaka, the Brazil and Real Madrid star, earned $25m last year. To put that in an overall sports perspective, this is the same was the earnings of Venus and Serena Williams combined. Contributing to this total was his cover appearance for FIFA 11 by EA Sports which sold 100 million copies.
5. Ronaldinho ($24m)
He finishes just short of his fellow countryman Kaka with $24m: 1 space and $1m behind. In January he signed a deal with Flamengo which will last until 2014. His 2010 earnings put him above many Hollywood celebrities - reached the total of Hugh Laurie, Natalie Portman and Cortney Cox all added together!
6. Thierry Henry ($21m)
Ex-Barcelona striker and Arsenals #1 goalscorer, Henry earned $21m last year owing partly to his transfer to the New York Red Bulls and his endorsement deal with Gilette. He treated himself with a $14.9m New York appartment!
7. Wayne Rooney ($20m)
He earned $20m last year. But it's not all good news, as he recently parted company with Coca-Cola who had been paying him $1m per year. He nonetheless still has Nike and Electronic Arts to fall back on!
8. Frank Lampard ($17m) (Tie)
Lampard, the highest scoring EPL midfielder ever with more than 135 career goals, is tied in 8th with $18 last year. To go for the Hollywood analogy again, that almost puts him level with Cameron Diaz.
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($17m) (Tie)
Now at AC Milan, his move from Inter to Barcelona in 2009 was worth $96m and the 2nd most expensive transfer ever at the time. The 2010 earnings for this soccer player beat the likes of Kanye West by a cool $1m.
10. Samuel Eto'o ($15m)
Rounding off the list with a mere $15m is Samuel Eto'o, the record winner Cameroon star of 4 African player of the year titles who at club level now plays for Inter Milan. His sponsors include Puma and Ford.
David Beckham $40 million
Ronaldo
No he is not the third richest footballer in the world.
The Protuguese footballer Christanio Ronaldo is the world richest footballer/
Leo Messi. He is also the richest Footballer in the world
The richest footballer in the world is David Beckham.
The richest footballer in the world is David Beckham.
messi and ronaldo
messi
Messi
the third richest footballer in the world is Mohammad Abdouni of Sultan Yaacoub United
Mrs cornelious
Lionel Messi
Wayne Rooney