Mohamed Salah earns place in top 100 highest earning athletes for first time

Forbes magazine has revealed its sporting rich list for the past year

Liverpool's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah gestures to the fans during an open-top bus parade around Liverpoo. AFP

Another Premier League Golden Boot and then a Champions League winners medal - Mohamed Salah is undoubtedly among the top footballers in the world.

So, it is only right that he is financially rewarded for his skill set, and confirmation of that has arrived in the form of Forbes magazine's annual highest paid athletes list.

The Egyptian has made the top 100 list for the first time, ranking at No 98 along with Spanish basketball player Marc Gasol and one place ahead of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli.

Forbes puts Salah's earnings at $25.1 million a year (over Dh92m), with $16.1m of that coming from salary and winnings, and $9m from endorsements. The 26-year-old forward has sponsorship deals with Adidas, Electronic Arts and Uber, while he has also carried out promotional work this year for DHL and Pepsi.

Salah signed a new five-year contract with Liverpool in July 2018 that "contains a base and bonus structure worth at least $15m a year," Forbes said.

He was, however, some way behind Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, who topped the rankings by raking in $127m via salary and endorsement deals.

This placed him ahead of second placed Cristiano Ronaldo, of Juventus and Portugal, who makes $109m.

Fellow footballer Neymar was third with $105m, while Paul Pogba was 44th ($33m), Andres Iniesta 46th (32.5m), Alexis Sanchez 53rd ($30.8m), Kylian Mbappe 55th ($30.6m), Mesut Ozil 57th ($30.2m), Oscar 66th ($29m), Antoine Griezmann 75th ($27.7m), and Gareth Bale 79th ($27.1m).

Salah has been on holiday in recent days ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

He was named in Egypt's 23-man squad for the tournament which takes place in his homeland from June 21 to July 19.

His influence since becoming a major star at Liverpool has gone well beyond the football pitch, with recent research suggesting the UK city has seen a fall in Islamophobia and hate crime since his arrival.

Stanford University's Immigration Policy Lab conducted a study which found a 18.9 per cent drop in hate crimes in the county of Merseyside compared to the expected rate had he not arrived in 2017.