Oct 23, 2015

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the world's top 10 athlete brands,the latest Forbes ranking shows -- but there is no place on the list for Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo is No. 8 in the ranking -- down a place from last year -- which calculates athlete brand value as sponsorship income minus the average of endorsement income of the top 10 athletes in the same sport.

The Forbes data shows Ronaldo has a brand value of £10.4m ($16 million), £9m behind the top-ranked athlete, golfer Tiger Woods.

Forbes calculated Ronaldo's brand value at £11m ($17m) last year while Barcelona star Messi was ranked ninth in 2014 with a brand value of £7.78m ($12m) and dropped out of the top 10 this year.



Another golfer, Phil Mickelson (£18.2m) is second in the list, with tennis star Roger Federer (£17.5m) and basketball's LeBron James (£17.5m) joint third.

In the top 10 most valuable teams, Ronaldo's Real are fifth, with a value of £301m, with Manchester United valued at £289m and Barcelona £283m.

The top four places are taken up by U.S. franchises the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots