Welcome to irl Media NEWS. I’m your host Chris Thompson. The soccer world can pretty much be divided up between just two teams: Team Ronaldo and Team Messi. Whichever team you’re on, I think we can all agree these two soccer gods have redefined what it means to be successful in the world of sports.

Today we’re talking about who has been more successful: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? We’ll explore their impressive stats, count up their career earnings, and explore the soccer legacy each player is leaving behind. All that and more on today’s episode of irl Media News. Let’s get into it.

For the longest time, it was the legendary Pele who every young soccer player wanted to be like. The Brazilian was a worldwide sensational, and for a long time, he held the record for most professional goals scored. Pele is the only player ever to be a three-time World Cup Champion. His 21-year career yielded him 757 verified goals, and many people thought his total would never be topped.

After the turn of the century – that’s the 21st century, for you Millenials out there – professional soccer was blessed with two new phenoms, Messi and Ronaldo, both of whom wound up chasing Pele’s goal total. Not surprisingly, Ronaldo was the first to pass the record, since he’s 2 years older than Messi and started playing professionally 2 years earlier.

Cristiano Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985, in Madeira, Portugal. The dynamic striker has played on numerous teams throughout his career. He started in 2002 with Sporting Club of Portugal. The following year he signed on with Manchester United. This came with a transfer fee around $19 million dollars – a small price to pay for the greatest player in the world at that time. Ronaldo signed a five-year deal, which paid him over $2 million dollars annually. He inked his final extension in 2007, which raised his pay over $7 million annually.

Ronaldo played in England for six seasons before he left and signed on with Real Madrid in Spain. The transfer fee this time was a record $131 million dollars, and his new six-year deal earned him $17 million per year.

The money Cristiano earned playing soccer in Europe has been astonishing, but his endorsement deals and contract with Saudi Arabia are next level. He has lucrative deals with Nike, Armani, and Samsung. He also has his own brands like CR7 and a hotel chain. When everything was totaled up by Forbes magazine in 2023, they listed Ronaldo as having $500 million dollars in net worth. His net income is listed at $136 million dollars including $46 million listed as on-field pay and a staggering $90 million dollars earned from off-field deals and businesses.

The Saudi kingdom is supposedly paying Ronaldo $215 million per year to play on their Al Nassr FC, which breaks down to about $4 million per week. Although the Saudi Arabian kingdom doesn’t disclose the exact facts and figures, his earnings are no doubt astronomical.

Contents of this video:

00:00 Intro
00:10 Are you Team Ronaldo or Team Messi?
00:32 Everyone used to want to be like Pele, now they want to be like Ronaldo or Messi
00:58 The 21st century brought us Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi
01:13 Cristiano Ronaldo History
03:30 Lionel Messi History
05:06 Lionel Messi signs with the MLS’s Inter Miami FC

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