Meet The Top 3 Highest-Paid African Athletes in the World in 2022

Meet The Top 3 Highest-Paid African Athletes in the World in 2022

Isaac Darko
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:02 PM
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M. Salah
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  • Liverpool and Egypt superstar Mohamed Salah is the only African footballer to feature in the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world list
  • The other Africans also among the highest-earning sportsmen are Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors
  • The top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world list was compiled by US sports business website Sportico

Three African athletes have made it onto the list of the world's top 100 highest-paid sportsmen, per a research by the sports business publication Sportico.

According to the US sports business website, estimates are based on earnings from June 2021 to May 2022 and combine salary and prize money.

It also includes incentives and bonuses, along with endorsements from things like sponsorships, licensing, royalties, memorabilia, and media appearances.

Mohamed Salah, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Sportico, highest-paid athletes, highest-paid African athletes, highest-earning African athletes, Liverpool, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia Sixers, NBA
Pascal Siakam, Mohamed Salah and Joel Embiid are the only African athletes on the list of world's top 100 highest-earning sportsmen. Photos by Jan Kruger, Tim Nwachukwu, Dylan Buell
Source: Getty Images

Altogether, the top 100 combined to earn $4.5 billion in this timeframe, up 6% from last year.

This year's rankings see Basketball megastar LeBron James topping Sportico‘s 2022 list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world.

Sports Brief look at the highest-paid African athletes who made it into the top 100 list in 2022.

Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) - $34.5 million

The 2022 highest-paid athlete in Africa is Cameroon’s Joel Embiid, who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers basketball franchise in the United States. The Basketball stars is ranked 57th in the world.

He earned a total of $34.5 million, of which $28.5 million was his salary and $6 million was income from endorsements. He ranks at number 55 in the overall list.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - $34.2 million

Mohamed Salah is next at number 57 in the world but 2nd in Africa with a combined income of £27.6m ($34.2m) That income, according to Sportico insights, sees £16.3m ($20.2m) derived from his Liverpool salary and a further £11.3m ($14m) arriving from endorsements.

Companies including Adidas, Pepsi, Uber, Vodafone and Oppo all have sponsorship deals in place with Salah, who has dropped 12 places from last year's position of 45 on the list.

Salah is the only African footballer to feature in the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world list.

Pascal Siakam ($30.7 million)

Cameroonian basketballer Pascal Siakam is the third and last African in the list at number 89. He earned $30.7 million, of which $29.7 million was from his salary at Toronto Raptors and $1 million from endorsements.

Born in Douala to Cameroonian parents, Siakam as selected by Toronto with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA draft. He was named an NBA All-Star for the first time as a starter in the 2019–20 season and he was also selected to his first All-NBA Team.

Lionel Messi Beats Ronaldo, LeBron James to Emerge Top of Forbes List of Highest Earning Athletes

Sports Brief earlier reported that Lionel Messi has been recognized by financial magazine, Forbes as the highest-paid athlete in the world, defeating the likes of arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo to the accolade.

The Argentine forward made a total of $130 million in the year under review to surpass the earnings of all other superstar athletes, with Ronaldo earning just $115m.

According to a report via the Daily Mirror, the top 10 athletes on the list earned a total of $992m from May 2021 to May 2022 and was calculated based on their combined total of their on-field and off-field earnings.

Authors
Isaac Darko photo
Isaac Darko
Isaac Darko is a La Liga, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga editor at Sports Brief with a Degree in Journalism and Communications from Ghana Institute of Journalism (2010)