Cristiano Ronaldo leads Forbes’ Rich List of sportsman

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the only Premier League star to make latest list of top 20 highest-earning sport stars in Europe… and there is only one English man

CRISTIANO RONALDO is the leading sportsman in the latest Forbes’ Rich List – but only one Englishman makes the top 20.

The Real Madrid legend pocketed a whopping £70million over the past twelve months.

That figures makes him the highest-paid sports personality in Europe.

And former Manchester United man Ronaldo only just missed out on top spot in the celebrity world by just £1m.

He was just pipped to No1 by Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Forbes calculates the figures before taxes and management fees are taken into account.

And Ron’s earnings are mainly made up from his contract and endorsement deals at Madrid.

Amazingly, despite the vast sums paid in the Premier League, not one England footballer makes it into the top 20 of the best-paid Euro stars.

That left Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton as our sole representative in 11th-place after he earned £32m.

Wales and Madrid forward Gareth Bale comes in at 18th in the list after netting a sum of £25.5m.

And he is joint with Irish UFC star and professional boxer Conor McGregor.

Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (£37m) pips Hamilton into ninth.

That makes him the only sportsman from the UK in the top 10.

Other names in the list include tennis world No2 Roger Federer (£48m) in fifth and another F1 driver, Sebastian Vettel (£28.9m), in 14th.

One Prem ace who does make the list is Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic – his earnings of £24m saw him scrape in to 20th place.