Lionel Messi has suffered defeat at the hands of rival Cristiano Ronaldo for a second time this week after the Real Madrid star was placed higher on a Forbes list of most valuable athletes.
Ronaldo was crowned FIFA’s player of the year in an awards ceremony on Monday with Barcelona‘s Messi in second.
And in a top-10 list determining the most valuable athletes as a brand, Messi only just edged his way in at number nine with Ronaldo in at number four.
The brand value is decided by using the athlete’s earnings, excluding their salary and any bonuses from their sport as well as investment income, minus the average income of the top 10 athletes in the same sport.
Having enjoyed a tremendous season after guiding Real Madrid to La Liga and Champions League glory, Ronaldo has seen his brand value rise by an exponential 13.2 percent to £16million.
In contrast, Messi’s value dropped by 10 percent to £10million.
They were both, though, bettered by tennis maestro Roger Federer who topped the list at £28million with NBA mega star LeBron James in second at £25million.
Below is the full top-10 list provided by Forbes.
1) Roger Federer – £28million
2) LeBron James – £25m
3) Usain Bolt – £20m
4) Cristiano Ronaldo – £16m
5) Phil Mickelson – £15m
6) Tiger Woods – £13m
7) Virat Kohli – £11m
8) Rory McIlroy – £10m
9) Lionel Messi – £10m
10) Stephen Curry – £10m
