Here's your Forbes daily briefing for Thursday, October 16th.

Today on Forbes, the world's highest paid soccer players 2025.

For a brief moment this summer, Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to be on the verge of ending his illustrious soccer career.

The 40-year-old superstar forward's contract was expiring at Al-Nasar,

the Saudi Pro League club he had joined in 2023, and he had just led Portugal to victory in the Wafa

Nations League tournament, offering him an opportunity to hang up his boots on a high note.

But Ronaldo quickly dispelled the retirement speculation and re-upped with Al Nasser on a two-year deal.

Forbes estimates Ronaldo will earn $230 million from Al Nassar during the 2025-26 season,

a sum that is believed to incorporate financial incentives from commercial agreements facilitated by his club,

in addition to his playing wages.

Factor in the $50 million he will collect off the field from partners including Nike,

finance, and Herbalife, and Portugal's favorite son is slated to pull in $280 million

in total earnings over the coming year before taxes and agents' fees.

That astonishing figure, which is roughly in line with Forbes's projection for Ronaldo for the

2024-25 season, gives him the top spot among the world's highest-paid soccer players

for the sixth time in the last decade. In fact, among all the athletes Forbes has tracked since 1990, only one

has surpassed that number in a single year while active in his sport, boxer Floyd Mayweather,

who hauled in an estimated $300 million over the 12 months ending in June 2015, and $285 million

three years later.

Rinaldo's sky-high total also puts a fair amount of distance between him and his longtime rival Leonel Messi of Inter-Miamy, who ranks number two among the sports top earners at

$130 million in projected total income.

Combined, the world's 10 highest- paid soccer players are set to earn an estimated $945 million

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