How much does Lionel Messi earn and what is the football legend’s net worth?
Lionel Messi has won a record seven Ballons d'Or, making him the most decorated player in the game in this respect. It is no surprise, then, that he has been the world's very best-paid player for years.
The Argentine superstar is continuing to dominate on the global stage and has netted three goals in the 2022 World Cup, leading his country to the quarter-finals so far in Qatar as they prepare to face the Netherlands.
Nevertheless, last summer marked a crossroads in Messi's career. For the first time in his professional life, he left Barcelona to join Paris Saint-Germain upon the expiration of his contract at Camp Nou.
It was a shock turn of events for one of the game's all-time greats, who, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, has dominated the sport for over a decade.
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Messi holds a myriad of records and is notably Barcelona’s all-time record holder for appearances and goals. The forward has won La Liga 10 times and the Champions League on four occasions.
Messi plays his international football for Argentina and is his country’s record goal-scorer. In July 2021, he led them to the Copa America title for the first time.
As well as being a superstar player, the 35-year-old has built some substantial wealth.
Here are all of the stunning financial metrics for Messi, numbers which highlight his extraordinary success on and off the pitch in a glittering career.
What is Messi’s net worth?
Messi has an estimated net worth of $400 million as of June 2022. That equates to around £325m and €380m in other major currencies.
In a 2021 study, that was double the wealth of Neymar, the former Barcelona team-mate he has reunited with in Paris, who himself is a commercial juggernaut.
But it was short of the total achieved by Cristiano Ronaldo.
How much does Messi earn?
Messi is the highest earning athlete in the world, according to Forbes reporting his 2022 earners are at $130m, more than any other athlete on the planet.
That put him narrowly ahead of Ronaldo ($115m), with Neymar ($95m) the only other footballer in close proximity.
After the big three, there is a big drop to Mohamed Salah ($45m) and Kylian Mbappe ($43m) to round out the top five highest-paid footballers.
Messi earns exactly the same in endorsements as long-time rival Ronaldo, with both scooping up $55m in that category.
Messi has since moved to PSG while Ronaldo is a free agent after leaving Man Utd, so there is likely to have been an impact on their respective wealth figures.
In a study published by L'Equipe on 22 March, it was revealed that Messi has the second highest wage in French football behind only Neymar. From PSG, he earns a basic wage of €40.56m before tax each year. That equates to €780,000 per week from the club. However, that was before Kylian Mbappe's new contract, which suggests Messi now earns the third-most in wages at the club.
Breaking down the earnings of Messi into shorter timeframes generates some eye-watering results.
The $126m he earned in 2020 meant Messi earned $10.5m per month and a weekly wage of over $2.4m.
Every day is like a lottery win for Messi, with daily earnings of $345,000. Digging deeper, the Argentina forward makes over $14,000 every hour, $233 per minute and almost $4 every second.
Over the course of his career, Messi has already earned over $1 billion before taxes and expenditure.
As of 2020, Ronaldo was the only other player to have achieved that status.
Messi’s contract leak
Messi’s final Barcelona contract was controversially leaked at the start of 2021, sending shockwaves through the game.
It was discovered that the most recent four-year extension signed by Messi in 2017 was worth up to $555m if certain objectives were reached, at a time when Barca were in a perilous financial state.
He received over €115m as a bonus simply for signing the contract.
There was also a loyalty bonus of €78m, separate to his lucrative salary and image rights.
Barcelona denied any involvement in the leak, which first appeared in El Mundo and received global attention.
Deal with PSG
Messi signed a two-year contract with PSG in 2021, which includes an option for a third year.
The lucrative deal reportedly sees Messi earn around $43m per year (€40.5m, £35m).
Messi also receives a loyalty bonus worth €15m gross each year if he is still in the squad at the close of the summer transfer window. However, like PSG's other recruits, he was not given a signing on bonus when he arrived in the summer.
That deal attracted further recent attention when it emerged the football great had been paid partly in cryptocurrency.
Messi received a large amount of PSG fan tokens, which are a type of traded crypto product that help clubs to generate further revenue, allowing those who hold them to vote on a serious of typically minor decisions involving their teams.
Who sponsors Messi?
The sponsor most connected with Messi is Adidas, with whom he is contracted to on a long-term deal.
Their partnership began in 2006 after Adidas won a battle with rivals Nike.
The attacker wears the brand’s boots on the pitch and endorses a host of other products for them. By contrast, Ronaldo represents Nike.
Messi represents, or has represented, huge swathes of global companies as his star power has grown. MasterCard, Pepsi, Gatorade, Huawei, Dolce & Gabbana, Gillette, Turkish Airlines and Audemars Piguet are among them.
He has also represented Konami as the face of Pro Evolution Soccer and EA Sports for their FIFA gaming series.
All these partnerships have heavily contributed towards his net worth, providing an additional income stream to his Barcelona wages over the years.
Unrivalled.
Leo Messi becomes the first player in history to win 6 Ballon d’Or awards, and he’s not done yet.pic.twitter.com/MpWxGr2SaR
— Team Messi (@TeamMessi) December 2, 2019
What businesses does Messi have?
As well as his products with Adidas, Messi has launched his own clothing line.
The Messi Store in Barcelona was his first retail outlet, opened in 2019.
Overall, even though they have increased in prominence towards the latter stages of his career, Messi’s business interests were often more limited than other players, or at least more private.
Earlier in his career, many of Messi’s deals were carefully selected to ensure they were tied to his performances as a player and he did not promote products as actively as others.
Messi has a hotel business MiM which is run by his brother.
It is also known that Messi invests in property. He put money into the Azahares del Parana community project near his birthplace of Rosario in Argentina, along with an apartment building in the city centre.
It was recently reported that Messi had paid £3m to build a new mansion nicknamed 'The Fortress' in his home city.
Like with all successful athletes, Messi also has a varied range of investments to help grow his wealth.
Messi also does a host of charity work. He has his own foundation and has been a long-term ambassador with Unicef.
He was asked to help the World Health Organization in their campaign to stop the spread of coronavirus.
What are his cars and assets?
Messi has a love of luxury cars. His portfolio is said to include a Ferrari F430 Spider, a Pagani Zonda, a Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale, and an Audi R8 Spyder, all of which are worth six or seven-figure amounts.
Messi also enjoys travelling on his own €15m private jet which includes a kitchen, two bathrooms and 16 seats that can become beds. He has the names of his wife and children etched on the steps of the plane.
He owns a luxurious home in Castelldefels near Barcelona, which has a view of the Catalan mountains.
The mansion contains some specific features added by Messi, including a football pitch, a swimming pool and a playground for his children.
A one-zero eco house that was designed and custom-built by Luis Garrido is also an asset for the Messi family, who have spent over $2m on renovations.
He has reportedly spent almost $10m on an apartment in Miami’s Porsche Design Tower in Miami.
There is an elaborate lift in the building that allows to park their car on the same floor of the luxury suite.
In between football seasons, the forward reportedly travels around with his family on a yacht that costs $50,000 per week to rent.
He has welcomed team-mates on board the vessel in the past, including Luis Suarez.
The yacht contains four rooms that can welcome 10 guests and has a master suite, a VIP stateroom and two twin cabins. There is an outdoor bar and huge space for sunbathing.
How many followers does Messi have on social media?
Messi is rare among footballers in that he does not have a personal Twitter account, with an Adidas-run account his only presence on that platform.
He does have a Facebook page which has attracted an astonishing 105 million fans.
Messi can boast even more impressive figures on Instagram, where he is now followed by 341m people after a huge surge upon joining PSG.
Read more about: La Liga, Ligue 1, Argentina, Barcelona, PSG, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Luis Suárez, Mohamed Salah, Neymar, Portu
