The Frenchman will earn $128 million this season thanks to his earnings at PSG and his advertising contracts.
Kylian Mbappé will be the highest-paid footballer in the world this season, displacing his teammate, the Argentine Lionel Messi, according to Forbes' annual ranking published on Friday.
The French forward, who won the World Cup in 2018 with Les Bleus, is expected to earn $128 million this season, including his club salaries and income from advertising contracts, before taxes and agent fees. A record for this sport, according to specialized media.
For the first time since 2014, it is neither Messi, Mbappé's teammate at PSG and second on this list with $120 million, nor Messi's eternal rival, Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), third with $100 million, who reigns among the richest footballers.
The two superstars were already over 30 when they crossed the $100 million annual income mark for the first time in 2018.
At 23, he surpasses $100 million
In contrast, Mbappé achieves it by far, at only 23 years old. Only the top three represent over half of the record total of $652 million in earnings, which includes the top ten highest salaries in world football.
Last year, the Top 10 accumulated $585 million. The increase is 11%.
Mbappé, who decided in May to extend with PSG until 2025 (the last season is optional), after considering a move to Real Madrid, will receive approximately $110 million during the current 2022/2023 season between his salary and part of his signing bonus, according to Forbes, citing industry experts.
This amount is in addition to the $18 million in off-field earnings, with various sponsorships (Nike, Dior, Hublot, Oakley, Panini, the FIFA video game).
He also created a production company, Zebra Valley, and invested in the field of "NFT," which associates a digital object with an unforgeable certificate of authenticity, guaranteeing its sole owner official ownership.
By way of comparison, the Frenchman is, for these additional sponsorship reasons, still far from the earnings of Ronaldo ($60 million) and Messi ($55).
But his already immense popularity should allow him to close that gap. And his influence is such that he forced the French Federation to renegotiate the terms of the agreement governing the exploitation of the image rights of the players on the French national team.
Another phenomenon of world football, the talented Norwegian from Manchester City, Erling Haaland, 22, entered the ranking in 6th place, with a salary, including bonuses, of $35 million, plus $4 million in sponsorship contracts.
With Mbappé, they are the only players under 30 to appear on the current list, which foreshadows their inevitable rejuvenation in the coming years. AFP