World's 5 highest-paid athletes of 2017 - Where are Messi and Ronaldo?

#3 Lionel Messi – $80 million

Lionel Messi finished in second position on this list last year but after enduring one of the most difficult 12 months of his life, he has dropped down to third this time around. It hasn’t been the best year for the diminutive Argentine, who lost the Copa America final to Chile – his 3^rd loss in the final of a major tournament with Argentina in 3 years.

After that he was pipped to the Ballon d’Or by arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, while Barcelona missed out on the league title to Real Madrid and lost in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League to Juventus. Messi had a great year on an individual level, finishing as the leading scorer in all of Europe – winning the Golden Shoe Race along with the Pichichi.

All of this, along with his enormous fan following, saw the Argentine rake in $80 million during the past 12 months.