Lionel Messi has been named No 1 in SportsPro’s 2020 list of the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes.
The Barcelona superstar and six-time Ballon d’Or winner claimed the top spot ahead of Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo who was placed in second spot.
American basketball star LeBron James, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, and Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu completed this year’s top five, with Bianca named as the top-ranked female athlete.
According to SportsPro, this year’s 50 Most Marketable (50MM) Athletes list is powered by Nielsen’s proprietary athlete marketability assessment methodology. The methodology draws on vast amounts of social media data to generate an Athlete Influencer Score comprising four key data points: relevance, reach, return, and resonance.
See full list below.