Messi vs Ronaldo: The debate for the greatest of all time is always on when we talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both players achieved new milestones as we saw recently how Messi won his 44th record title and then, we moved to a battle on Instagram followers. Messi has now defeated Ronaldo in the list of most famous athletes ever in the world.
Inter Miami forward and Argentina international, Lionel Messi has taken 7th spot among the most famous athletes in sports history. This is one of the biggest achievements for the Argentine who is just adding new glories to his career. In the list of the top 10, only three footballers found their place and surprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo missed out his name in the top 10.
However, Messi is not the most famous footballer in the list as he is behind to other two respective names. British sports publication, GiveMeSport announced a list of the 10 most famous athletes ever in the world. Two legendary and iconic football figures, Diego Maradona and Pele finished above Messi. The Argentine would be proud to feature in the list with these two icons from Argentina and Brazil.
Messi’s biggest competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make entry in the top 10. Messi’s brand value has also increased since his historic FIFA World Cup win in Qatar last year when Argentina won the title by beating France in the final. 7-time Ballon d’Or winner also transformed his new club Inter Miami within a month. Fans are crazy for Messi in the US and we saw his debut game broke all the broadcasting and streaming records.
GOAT debate is going on and Messi takes an edge against Cristiano Ronaldo who was recently seen in a lie detector test where he was asked about the World Cup trophy. Messi’s craze is so high that he has accounted for over $265 million in ticket sales for the MLS. Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass gained 300,000 new subscribers, worth $29.7 million.
Ronaldo also influenced fans towards the Saudi Pro League and his arrival at Al Nassr last winter revived the Saudi League as they competed in the summer transfer window. They signed top European players and the brand value of the Saudi Pro League increased. Still, winning trophies is slightly an area where Messi takes the extra edge and this list by GiveMeSports considered this fact. Ronaldo hasn’t won a FIFA World Cup trophy yet. Apart from that, he has won 5 UCL titles and he has the most number numbers of international goals. Messi completed football by winning every major trophy.
Pele and Maradona gave new colours to football during their peak time. Maradona helped Argentina to win the World Cup in 1986 and Pele also did the same by showing world biggest domination of Brazil in world football. Tennis legend Roger Federer also found his name and Don Bradman is the only cricketer in the list. Apart from football, three basketball players Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and LeBron James take spots in the top 10.
Here’s the complete list of the top 10 sports icons in history:
- Maradona – Football
- Michael Jordan – Basketball
- Pele – Football
- Babe Ruth – Baseball
- Larry Bird – Basketball
- Roger Federer – Tennis
- Lionel Messi – Football
- Wayne Gretzky – Ice Hockey
- Sir Donald Bradman – Cricket
- LeBron James – Basketball
