Ronaldo $300M, Messi $140M, Mbappé $95M, Haaland $80M, Kane $41M: 2026 World Cup's highest-paid players ranked

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on Thursday (11 June) across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is not just the most expansive tournament in the competition's 96-year history — it is also the wealthiest, with two billionaires on the pitch and a starting eleven collectively earning an estimated $950 million in the past year alone, according to Forbes.

FIFA projects the four-year cycle concluding with this tournament will generate $13 billion in revenue, with the World Cup alone expected to contribute approximately $17.2 billion to US GDP. Against that backdrop, Forbes has compiled the definitive list of the highest-paid players competing this summer, factoring in both on-field salaries and off-field commercial earnings.

Here are the 11 highest-paid players at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo leads every list. The 41-year-old Portugal captain earned an estimated $300 million in the past 12 months, a figure that ties Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s record for the largest single-year haul ever recorded by Forbes for any athlete, without accounting for inflation. His net worth now stands at $1.2 billion. He is also the only active sportsperson to have crossed $2 billion in career earnings. He heads into his sixth World Cup still seeking the one title that has eluded him, but arrives with momentum after helping Al-Nassr win the Saudi Pro League championship last month.

Lionel Messi, 38, is close behind with $140 million in earnings, split evenly between his Inter Miami salary and commercial income. Forbes places his net worth at $1.1 billion. He arrives as the defending champion, leading Argentina in its bid for a fourth World Cup title, and is four goals away from surpassing Miroslav Klose's all-time record of 16 World Cup goals. He also turns 39 on 24 June, mid-tournament. His commercial footprint is vast: new campaigns for Adidas, featuring Bad Bunny and Timothée Chalamet, and for Michelob Ultra alongside Christian Pulisic and Billy Bob Thornton, ensure he will be as visible on television screens as on the pitch.

Kylian Mbappé of France earned $95 million over the past year, making him the third highest-paid player at the tournament. Despite having played three fewer World Cups than Messi, he trails him by just one goal on the competition's all-time scoring list. The 27-year-old Real Madrid forward won the World Cup in 2018 at the age of 19 and reached the final again four years later. He enters this summer having been the Champions League's top scorer during the 2025-26 season.

Norway's Erling Haaland, 25, earned $80 million, with $60 million coming from his club contract at Manchester City. He carries the full weight of a nation's hope: this is Norway's first World Cup since 1998, two years before Haaland was born. "It's a lot of pressure on me, but I like the pressure," he told GQ ahead of the tournament. "I would put a lot of pressure on Erling Haaland if I wasn't Erling Haaland myself." Real Madrid's pursuit of him has not quietened, with a club presidential candidate pledging last week to sign him if elected, a claim that prompted Manchester City to threaten legal action.

Brazil's Vinicius Jr., also 25, took home $60 million and has been refreshingly candid about his own country's chances, naming Argentina, Portugal, Spain and France as the leading contenders during a conversation with Spanish creator Ibai Llanos in February. Brazil has not won the World Cup in 24 years and carries the fifth-best odds on major US betting platforms. Meanwhile, an unannounced Fortnite collaboration appears to have been inadvertently revealed in a recent Nike advertisement featuring the winger.

England's Jude Bellingham, 22, earned $44 million and remains the youngest player in this tier of the list. He became England's second-youngest World Cup goalscorer in 2022 against Iran, an appearance that helped trigger a transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid worth more than $100 million. This week, England manager Thomas Tuchel tempered expectations by noting that the squad carried "14 or 15 potential starters," meaning even Bellingham must fight for his place.

Mohamed Salah of Egypt earned $55 million, though his focus this summer is as much on history as finance. After nine seasons, 257 goals and two Premier League titles at Liverpool, he has agreed to leave Anfield early as a free transfer. More pressingly, Egypt has never won a World Cup match despite winning the Africa Cup of Nations a record seven times. A group containing Belgium, Iran and New Zealand offers a realistic path to ending that drought.

Senegal's Sadio Mané, 34, earned $54 million, almost all of it from his club salary at Al-Nassr. His year has been turbulent: he helped Senegal win the Africa Cup of Nations in January, only for the title to be stripped after Senegalese players left the pitch in protest over a penalty decision. He then won the Saudi Pro League with Ronaldo at Al-Nassr. Having missed the 2022 World Cup through injury, he returns to the tournament with Senegal targeting the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years.

Brazil's Neymar closes the list at $38 million, though the majority of that figure, $28 million, comes from endorsements rather than playing time. A calf injury has kept him out of pre-tournament warm-up matches, and coach Carlo Ancelotti has said he will have to compete with Vinicius Jr. and Raphinha for a starting berth. What is undisputed is his symbolic importance: Brazil has handed him the iconic No. 10 jersey, making him the only Brazilian to wear it at four World Cups, a lineage that includes Pelé, Zico, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká.

England's Harry Kane, 32, earned $41 million and is the only player among the eleven to compete in the Bundesliga, where he leads the Bayern Munich attack. He is England's all-time top scorer with 79 goals in 113 appearances and shared the Golden Boot at the 2024 European Championship. He has already scored 32 goals for club and country in 2026, 14 more than any other player in the world this year according to ESPN, and opened his account for the summer in England's warm-up win over New Zealand.

Spain's Lamine Yamal, 18, earned $43 million despite being the youngest player on the entire list, with $10 million of that figure coming from endorsements alone following deals with American Eagle, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Powerade and Visa. A hamstring injury cut short his La Liga season, and Spanish newspaper AS has reported that Barcelona has placed strict conditions on his participation in the tournament's early matches, with the winger expected to begin as a substitute and face capped playing time in the opening games.

Ronaldo earns more from Instagram than most footballers earn from football. The 41-year-old is the most followed individual on Instagram globally, with over 600 million followers. Brands pay an estimated $3 million per sponsored post, meaning a single social media upload can exceed the annual salary of a mid-tier Premier League player.

Neymar makes nearly three times more off the pitch than on it. Of his $38 million in total earnings, $28 million comes from endorsements and commercial deals rather than his club salary at Santos, making him the most commercially dependent player on the entire list relative to playing income.

Lamine Yamal is 18 and already earns $10 million a year from sponsors alone. He has deals with American Eagle, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Powerade and Visa, a commercial portfolio that most players spend a decade building. He has not yet played 90 minutes in a World Cup game.

The World Cup is expected to add $17.2 billion to US GDP. That is roughly equivalent to the entire annual economic output of a small nation, generated by a football tournament lasting approximately five weeks.

Google's 2015 SpaceX investment logic mirrors its Anthropic bet — but its SpaceX stake in SpaceX now dwarfs what it paid. Closer to home at this tournament: Google paid around $900 million for its SpaceX stake, which grew to $132 billion. It owns 14% of Anthropic, which is preparing its own IPO. In football terms, that is the equivalent of signing a reserve player who goes on to win the Ballon d'Or.

The eleven highest-paid players at this World Cup collectively out-earn the GDP of several UN member states. Their combined $950 million in annual earnings exceeds the GDP of nations including Dominica, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

Mbappé is one goal behind Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list — despite playing three fewer tournaments. Messi has scored 15 goals across five World Cups. Mbappé has scored 14 across two. At his current rate, he could plausibly hold the record before the age of 30.

The 2026 World Cup, with its record 48 teams, three host nations and a final ticket priced at $32,970 on FIFA's own platform, is the clearest expression yet of that transformation.