Cristiano Ronaldo ranked 8th in Forbes' top 10 most valuable athlete brands of 2015

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or thrice in his career.

Real Madrid icon Cristiano Ronaldo has been named one of the top most valuable athlete brands of 2015 by Forbes, as per reports on the Mirror. Ronaldo is ranked eight in the list, with a value of £10.4 million among the likes of Tiger Woods, Rodger Federer and LeBron James who are all included in the popular business magazine.

You might be aware of the fact that the Portugal captain is currently the highest paid footballer in the world. Ronaldo, as we all know, is a born winner on the pitch – one of the best players in the history of football. He has achieved and reached unimaginable milestones over the years with Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Portuguese national football team.

It’s no surprise he’s the highest-paid footballer and it is easy to understand why he is paid so much. Ronaldo is also among the most marketable athletes in the world along with David Beckham who is another fine example of a footballer who has a number of endorsement deals with world’s biggest brands.

Surprisingly, he is the only footballer to feature in Forbes’ list of top 10 most valuable athlete brands of 2015, and there’s no inclusion of Barcelona star player Lionel Messi in the list.

The company made it clear at the beginning of the video, that it was solely valued “based on what the name is worth and not on the amount of what the business is worth nor the amount of income that the athlete is worth.” Forbes also defines an athlete’s “brand” as “[his or her] endorsement income, less the average endorsement income of the top 10 athletes in same the sport.” It’s a good formula to prove who are most sought after by sponsors and companies to endorse their product.

The 30-year-old comes in at number eight in the top 10, with a brand value of £10.4m, while Tiger Woods, despite his recent struggles, is at number 1 with £19.5m. He is followed by Phil Mickelson (£18.2m), Roger Federer (£17.5m) and LeBron James (£17.5m). The captain of the Indian ODI and T20 cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is placed at number 5 on the list.

Here’s the list of the top ten most valuable athlete brands:

Ranking	Athlete	Value
1	Tiger Woods	£19.5m
2	Phil Mickelson	£18.2m
3	LeBron James	£17.5m
4	Roger Federer	£17.5m
5	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	£13.6m
6	Usain Bolt	£11.7m
7	Kevin Durant	£11.7m
8	Cristiano Ronaldo	£10.4m
9	Rory Mcllroy	£7.8m
10	Floyd Mayweather Jr.	£7.5m

*Declared by Forbes magazine on the official website solely based on what the name is worth.

Nike tops the chart for most valued sports brand while Real Madrid are football’s most valuable team

The magazine also put out the ‘Forbes Fab 40’ list, taking the ten most valuable sports brands in the fields of business, events and teams. American sports brand Nike tops the chart in the business category, with a staggering value of £17 billion. It is then followed by US-based global cable and satellite television ESPN with £11 billion. Nike’s rivals, German sports brand Adidas comes in at third with £4 billion, while Sky Sports is valued £3 billion.

On the other hand, the top 10 list of most valuable teams are dominated by American franchises, but Real Madrid £301m, Manchester United £289m, Barcelona £283m and Bayern Munich £243m all feature in the list. The Galacticos place fifth and has been ranked the most valuable football team.