What is Lionel Messi's net worth and how much does the Inter Miami & Argentina star earn?

Lionel Messi has headed to the United States for what could be the final chapter in his playing career, with David Beckham's Inter Miami providing the World Cup-winning Argentine a new challenge. In joining the Major League Soccer team, Messi has bid farewell to European football, but he will still be lucratively rewarded.

Having made the bulk of his earnings across a lifetime at Barcelona and boosting that by joining Paris Saint-Germain - one of the richest clubs in the world - the Argentina captain, has commanded massive financial rewards.

But exactly how much is Messi worth? While it's difficult to get an exact figure, we can accumulate plenty of information from what has been reported and compare his earnings to his rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Contents

1. What is Lionel Messi's net worth?
2. What is Lionel Messi's salary?
3. What sponsorship deals does Lionel Messi have?
4. What businesses does Lionel Messi have?
5. What charity work does Lionel Messi do?
6. How many social media followers does Lionel Messi have?

What is Lionel Messi's net worth?

Messi's net worth is estimated to be around $600 million (£464m) by Forbes, who put his total overall career earnings at $1.28 billion in 2023. These figures are speculative, though, especially as his business interests tend not to be widely publicised.

The World Cup winner was placed second in Forbes' 2023 list of the highest paid athletes in the world in 2023, with reported earnings of $130 million, a figure which saw him place marginally behind Cristiano Ronaldo, whose move to Saudi Arabia helped him top the list.

Interestingly, Messi was top of the 2022 list, with his earnings also reported at $130 million that year, with basketball superstar and part-owner of Liverpool, LeBron James, coming second.

Forbes ranked Messi first among athletes on their list of the 100 highest-earning athletes of 2019, putting his income for that year at $127 million (£98m), and fourth overall, making him the best-earning footballer and athlete in the world.

His position dropped to third in Forbes' 2020 list, behind Ronaldo and tennis star Roger Federer, in a year that saw many industries take a hit as a consequence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, Ronaldo was back up in Forbes' 2021 list, with total earnings of $120 million. Former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight champion Conor McGregor was first on the list with $180 million earned.

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What is Lionel Messi's salary?

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Inter Miami are set to pay Messi between $125 million and $150 million (£100m and £120m) across his two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. His annual salary, then, is roughly between $50 million and $60 million (£40m and £46m), which is a slight improvement on what he was reportedly earning at PSG.

If Messi's salary is $50 million a year, that works out at just under $1 million a week ($961k) and if it stands at $60 million a year, it would be just over $1 million a year ($1.1m).

As well as a base salary, it is understood that Messi is set to receive bonuses based on performance and revenue generated.

Read more about Messi's Inter Miami contract.

What sponsorship deals does Lionel Messi have?

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Much like Ronaldo, Messi's many sponsorship deals are too numerous to list in their entirety but the most significant is with the makers of his boots. Their rivalry continues in the battle between Nike (Ronaldo) and Adidas (Messi) off the pitch.

A couple of months or so after Ronaldo signed a "long-term" deal with Nike in 2016 that was rumoured to be similar to the lifetime agreement penned by basketball star LeBron James - and potentially worth $1 billion - Messi, lo and behold, did similar with Adidas. The exact terms were not disclosed, but reports in Spain suggest it will take him through at least until the end of his playing career.

Messi has also been part of prominent campaigns with Pepsi, Gillette and Turkish Airlines. As part of their 2023 celebrity rich list, Forbes valued his endorsements at $65m (£50m) for that year in total. His off-field earnings have increased with his on-field.

More recent sponsorship partnerships include brands such as Hard Rock Cafe, Socios.com, Konami Mastercard, Lays, SikSilk, Leafty, Jacob & Co. and Gatorade.

What businesses does Lionel Messi have?

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Part of Messi's appeal, of course, is his image as a pure footballer who takes little interest in the lavish lifestyle available to him off the field. His apparent lack of desire to branch out into other ventures and create a personal brand in some ways became a brand in itself, and is attractive to sponsors.

But while Messi is not known to push lines of underwear and fragrances like Ronaldo, he has a line of clothing, featuring his own logo, at The Messi Store.

He has also invested in property, including homes in the United States. Around his birthplace of Rosario in Argentina, for example, he put money into the Azahares del Parana project (a set of gated communities out of the city) as well as an apartment building in the city centre.

Like many footballers, Messi also dipped his toe into the investment worlds of cryptocurrency and NFTs, working in partnership with Ethernity, a company which also worked with Pele and Luka Modric among others.

There's almost certainly much more than that, but - as tends to be the case with Messi - it is kept pretty private.

What charity work does Lionel Messi do?

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As is the case with his business interests, Messi's charity work is considerable but tends to be focused through sources and ventures he trusts.

He has his own organisation, the Leo Messi Foundation, which he asked for donations to instead of wedding gifts when he married long-term partner Antonela Roccuzzo.

The initiatives Messi backs are generally related to vulnerable children and their healthcare, and he was appointed an ambassador for Unicef in 2010 having worked with them since 2004.

In 2020, during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic Messi made donations to hospitals in Spain and Argentina to the tune of €1 million. The foundation has also donated money to UNICEF and awards funding to research ventures as well as training programmes.

How many social media followers does Lionel Messi have?

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Messi boasts extremely popular Facebook and Instagram pages but is not on Twitter, save for a 'Team Messi' account created by sponsors Adidas.

As of July 2023, Messi had 480 million followers on Instagram and 115 million on Facebook, - a combined total of 595 million followers.

He regularly shares glimpses of life in Casa Messi, with candid shots of himself with Antonela and their children, as well as the odd holiday photo featuring friends such as Cesc Fabregas and Luis Suarez.