Football and money go hand in hand. The modern game is awash with cash, and with the conclusion of new TV and sponsorship deals, there's absolutely no signs of the cascade of finance drying up anytime soon. So much more floods into the game, in fact, that the market for players is buoyant, constantly setting new milestones in the high tens of millions for player transfers. Before too long, it's like that player transfers will regularly break the £100 million, as a reflection of the sheer commercial value of big name stars for teams worldwide.
With these substantial transfer fees come ever-higher salaries for players throughout the game. Even in lower leagues, salaries can be comparable to decent, well-paid corporate roles, while those in the upper echelons can expect significantly more, often earning more than most people would in a year for a single week of their contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains one of the highest paid footballers in the world, earning a reported €32 million a year for playing with Real Madrid - no small reward for his exceptional footballing talent. But for us mere mortals, what would it take to replicate these astonishing sums, and to earn as much as Ronaldo does for kicking a ball?
Ronaldo's Earnings Broken Down
For the sake of this article, we're going to pretend that Ronaldo's basic footballing salary is the full extent of his income. Of course, this isn't true - he's hot property when it comes to sponsorships, endorsements, and all other manner of commercial agreements, which net him millions more. And that's before any bonuses written into his contract for goals, assists, appearances, and other clauses. Tough life.
Looking at his footballing salary alone, we're talking roughly £521,200 per week, or a little over £27 million, per annum. In his early 30s, Ronaldo probably has at least another three or four years left in his career at the top of the sport, and even beyond, he can expect to continue earning serious money into the future.
So what would it take to match that kind of salary?
Progressive Jackpot Slot Win
Progressive jackpots are often seen as the biggest prize in gambling, with multiple millions available to be won every day on slot machines across the web. The biggest ever progressive jackpot win was a cool $39.7 - roughly equivalent to a year's worth of Ronaldo's earnings. OK, so it's pretty unlikely you'll win anything like that amount playing slots (although the odds are significantly better than playing the lottery). And even winning that amount, you'd be equalling only a single year of Ronaldo's earnings - earnings from a career that has spanned over a decade, with time still remaining on his clock.
While progressives are a good route for everyday people to become multimillionaires overnight, they still fall short of what it takes to match Ronaldo pound for pound.
Win The National Lottery
OK, so this one's unlikely to happen each and every year, so you're probably far short of Ronaldo's salary, even if you do hit the multi-million-to-one shot and see your numbers come up.
The biggest National Lottery jackpot in history stood at over £160 million. Based on some quick maths, that would have netted you the equivalent of roughly 6 years worth of Ronaldo's base salary. But given that his professional career started at age 18, that's not even close to half of his career earnings. So while you might feel rich beyond your wildest dreams in the unlikely event you scooped a lottery prize, you'd still find it difficult to meet even half of Ronaldo's net worth. And that's assuming you won the biggest single lottery jackpot in UK history - ordinarily, jackpot amounts are much smaller.
S&P 500 CEO
Not everyone can win the lottery - some choose to find their fortunes in the corporate world. The highest earning CEOs in the world form a large part of the S&P 500, with companies like the Walt Disney Corporation paying their chief executive Robert A. Iger some $45 million in 2015. Not bad going in salary terms, but unfortunately still a long way to go from the likes of Ronaldo. When you consider there are only 500 places available, by definition, in this list, and that Iger's paycheck puts him very much in the upper echelons of corporate earners anywhere in the world, it seems like football, at least in Ronaldo's case, has been worth so much more.
At that kind of salary, he's roughly taking home the same amount as Ronaldo each year. But unfortunately, Iger isn't quite as brandable, so Ronaldo still has the edge when it comes to total earning power. While Iger may have a longer career, it's definitely a push to suggest he might be in the same league as Ronaldo when it comes to lifetime earnings.
Try as you might, it's hard to find any comparable role that could earn similar amounts to those that Ronaldo has pocketed over the years. As his career continues to soar, his earnings potential is virtually unlimited, and will continue to rack up the multiple millions, earning 20 years average annual salary every single week.
For those that don't have the luck of the football gods blessing their feet, these options remain the only close contenders that could possibly match the lifestyle and wealth of Portugal's most famous modern footballing export.
