Cristiano Ronaldo is a 'more valuable brand' than Lionel Messi

According to Forbes, which put together the rankings, ‘Athlete brand values’ are the amount by which endorsement income exceeds the average endorsement income earned by the top 10 earning athletes in the same sport during the past year.

Essentially, it’s all relative.

Ronaldo comes in at number 8 in the top 10, with a brand value of $16 m (10.4m), while Tiger Woods is at number 1 (£19.5m), followed by Phil Mickelson (£18.2m), Roger Federer (£17.5m) and LeBron James (£17.5m).

Indian cricketer MS Dhoni is fifth (£14m) , while Usain Bolt and Kevin Durant (£12m) tie for sixth place. Rory McIlroy (£8m) is just below Ronaldo in ninth place, and Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather will surely be devastated with his lowly 10th position (£7.5m).

As well as individuals, the ‘Forbes Fab 40’ also takes in the 10 most valuable sports brands in the fields of businesses, events and teams.

Nike tops the business category, with a massive value of £17bn, followed by ESPN (£11bn) and Adidas (£4bn). Sky Sports comes in at fifth with a value of £3bn.

The top 10 most valuable teams are predominantly American franchises, but Real Madrid (£301m), Manchester United (£289), Barcelona (£283) and Bayern Munich (£243m) all feature, with Real placing fifth, and ranking as the most valuable football team.

The Super Bowl (£375m) leads the most valuable events table, followed by the Summer Olympics (£225m) and then the Winter Olympics (£185m). The World Cup (£149m) is the leading football event, claiming fourth spot, with the Champions League (£82m) down at eighth.

This being an American list, there’s a slightly dubious ‘sporting’ entry at number five – the WWE event WrestleMania (£110m).

(telegraph.co.uk)