India captain Virat Kohli remained the only cricketer to be included in the list of top 100 highest-paid athletes of 2020 put forward by Forbes magazine. The right-handed batsman is also the only Indian athlete to be featured in the list. According to Forbes, Kohli had an estimated total earnings of $26 million ($24m from endorsements and $2m from salary/winnings). He made a jump of over 30 places from 2019, as he was positioned at the 66th spot in this year’s list.
The factors that went into Forbes’ calculation were athletes’ revenue, including prize money, salaries, contract bonuses, endorsements, royalties, and appearance fees from June 1, 2019, until June 1, 2020.
This is the second year in a row that Kohli has become the only Indian to feature in the Forbes’ list of top 100 highest-paid athletes. In 2019, he was positioned at the 100th place with an estimated earnings of $25 million.
Meanwhile, Swiss tennis great Roger Federer has become the first from his sport to top Forbes’ list of highest paid athletes. With an estimated $106.3 million earned over the past 12 months, Federer edged out Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from the top spot.
The three athletes immediately below Federer are all football players with Ronaldo on second with estimated earnings of $105 million. His arch rival and Argentine great Lionel Messi is third with an estimated $104 million while Brazil’s Neymar comes fourth with $95.5 million.
(With inputs from IANS)