Messi, Ronaldo declared 2026 billionaires

Forbes has confirmed both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as billionaires on the same day, completing the most extraordinary wealth story in football history.

The argument started before most of its participants were old enough to drive. Messi or Ronaldo. Barcelona or Manchester United. Eight Ballon d’Or awards each. A combined 14 Champions League titles. More than 1,500 career goals between them. Entire generations have grown up treating the rivalry as the defining question of the sport they love, and the answer, always, has depended on who you asked and what you valued.

On June 5, 2026, Forbes settled at least one dimension of it. Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are billionaires. Confirmed. On the same day. By the same publication. The sport that produced them has never seen anything like it.

Forbes placed Ronaldo at approximately $1.2 billion and Messi at $1 billion, making them the first two footballers in history to simultaneously hold ten-figure fortunes. It is worth pausing on that for a moment. Football is the most watched sport on the planet. It has been played professionally for more than a century.

And it has never, until today, produced two billionaires at the same time. The rivalry that defined an era of the game has delivered, as its financial finale, the most remarkable dual wealth story in sports history.