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#3 Lebron James
One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Los Angeles Lakers' Lebron James continues to be among the most marketable sporting entities on the planet. Lebron James has been crowned the MVP four times in his illustrious career.
Lebron has a lifetime sponsorship from Nike, and brand partnerships with Rimowa, Coca-Cola (Sprite and Powerade), Upper Deck, Beats Electronics, Blaze Pizza, State Farm Insurance, Audemars Piguet, Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, Kia Motors, Intel and Verizon.
Lebron James has a Sports Influencer Rating of 110.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo will go down in history as one of the greatest footballers of all time and we have been blessed to watch this incredible athlete dominate the world of football for a decade and a half now.
He has played for the biggest clubs in the world, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus after starting out at Sporting Lisbon and continues to perform at the highest level despite being 35-years-old.
Ronaldo's brand partners include Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels, Insparya, Nike, Herbalife Nutrition, DAZN, Clear, MTG, Altice, American Tourister, Abbott among several others.
With 238 million followers, Cristiano Ronaldo has the most popular Instagram account in the world. He has an Athlete Influencer Score of 113.
#1 Lionel Messi
The 6-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi is currently the most marketable athlete in the world. The Barcelona legend edges out career-long rival Cristiano Ronaldo to top the list with an Athlete Influencer Score of 115.
Lionel Messi, who has 167 million followers on Instagram, has a lifetime deal with Adidas and has lucrative endorsement deals with Gatorade, Huawei and Mastercard among others. He was named the highest-paid athlete in the world by Forbes magazine in 2019.
Lionel Messi made headlines earlier this summer by announcing that he is going to leave his lifelong club Barcelona after growing frustrated with the club's management. However, he has since pulled a 180. It would have been an exit that could have cost Barcelona an incredible amount of money.
At 33 years of age, Lionel Messi continues to clock incredible numbers and continues to produce moments of magic on the football field. Not bad for someone who was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child, eh?
