Cristiano Ronaldo leads the list of 10 of the world’s most famous athletes

Sporting company ESPN has released a list of the top 10 most famous athletes in the world. It is no surprise that Real Madrid superstar Crsitiano Ronaldo leads the list, especially after scoring the last penalty in Milan during the Champions League final against bitter rivals Atletico Madrid.

According to the company, the research was conducted by gathering data from social media following, salaries, endorsements and search engine popularity of the athletes.

The final list consisted of 100 athletes from all over the world, with Ronaldo being one of the 17 footballers who made the cut. He is followed by basketball superstar LeBron James at second place, while his rival Lionel Messi comes third. However, there are only four footballers in the top 10 list and interestingly, they all play in the Spanish La Liga for two giants namely Real Madrid and Barcelona. 

Here are the four footballers in the top 10 bracket, and their respective positions. 

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Salary: $ 53 million

Endorsements: $27 million

Facebook: 110.8 million likes

Twitter: 41.5 million followers

3. Lionel Messi 

Salary: $52 million

Endorsements: $22 million

Facebook: 84.3 million likes

Twitter: 13.5k followers

4. Neymar

Salary: $12 million

Endorsements: $17 million

Facebook: 56.4 million likes

Twitter: 22.1 million followers

9. James Rodriguez

Salary: $10 million

Endorsements: $ 5 million

Facebook: 29.7 million likes

Twitter: 9.6 million followers

Here is the summarized list of the top 10 most famous athletes: 1.Cristiano Ronaldo (football) 2. LeBron James (basketball) 3. Lionel Messi (football) 4. Neymar (football) 5. Rodger Federer (tennis) 6. Kevin Durant (basketball) 7. Tiger Woods (golf)  8. Virat Kohli (cricket) 9. James Rodriguez (football) 10. Rafael Nadal (tennis)