Sports Then and Now

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has been named the highest paid athlete in the world for the first time. He earned $ 127 million last year.

As betindex.bet mentions, basketball and football dominate the Top 100 highest paid in the sport in the ranking of Forbes magazine, with a wide variety of nationalities among the participants. Forbes calculates the income of athletes by collecting the amounts of their salaries, salaries and sponsorship agreements between June 2018 and June 2019.

In the list of the top 100 after Messi come two other football superstars – Cristiano Ronaldo ($ 109 million) and Neymar ($ 105 million) – the first players ranked as the first three players.

Last year’s highest paid athlete, boxer Floyd Mayweather, dropped off the list altogether.

Tennis star Serena Williams is the only woman in the Top 100, ranking 63rd. There were no women on last year’s list.

Competitors from 10 sports enter the Top 100, with the most NBA stars. Thirty-five basketball players are included in the rankings, led by LeBron James with revenues of $ 89 million.

Stephen Curry ($ 79.8 million) and Kevin Durant ($ 65.4 million) are also in the Top 10.

No Australian is on the list, but New Zealand basketball player Stephen Adams is in 78th place.

To enter the Top 100, athletes had to earn a minimum of $ 25 million.

The only cricketer on the list, Indian Virat Koli, is in 100th place, earning exactly $ 25 million.

In general, the best athletes are from 25 countries – compared to 22 last year.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals in his first action in the 2018 World Cup.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is off to a great start as close decisions are proving to be the norm. Of the first 20 games played, 13 have been decided by one goal and there have been three games finishing in a draw. Included among the decisions have been a number of upsets that could lead to some surprising teams advancing to the next round.

As the most watched global sporting event outside of the Olympics and a favorite for sports betting, the close games and upsets have made it an interesting week for betting sites and world cup predictions.

The hosts from Russia have been statistically the most dominant team so far in the tournament as they have scored eight goals and allowed only one in two wins. However, their two opponents (Saudi Arabia and Egypt) are not considered to be contenders. The fourth team in that bracket, Uruguay is also 2-0, though both wins were 1-0 shutouts. Russia and Uruguay will play on Monday and that game could provide some insight as to whether Russia can be a contender moving forward.

Perhaps the most surprising result of the tournament so far has been the 1-0 victory by Mexico over defending champion Germany. It will be crucial for Germany to bounce back in their next two games against Sweden and South Korea.

One thing that hasn’t been too much of a surprise so far has been the play of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Arguably the best player in the world, Renaldo scored three goals in a 3-3 draw between Portugal and Spain. He then scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Morocco. He will need to continue his magic in the next game against Iran to ensure that Portugal will advance to the next round. Read the rest of this entry →

Maradona and his squad will be looking for goals in their quarterfinal match with Germany.

Both Argentina and Germany will be going into their quarter final clash full of confidence. Germany completely demolished England, in their second round match. Argentina came through last 16 match against Mexico, in a match they dominated, they won 3-1.

After previously not scoring in the tournament, Carlos Tevez scored two goals, his first was clearly offside but given none the less. His second was a touch of genius, from the Manchester City striker, a stunning effort from the edge of the area. Read the rest of this entry →

Lionel Messi has solidified his position as the best player in the world.

Before this World Cup, the three players fighting for the title of the ‘world’s best player’ were Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi.

As we enter the quarter-final stage in South Africa, it looks as though Argentina’s Messi is winning the race. Although he is yet to score at these finals, he has been instrumental in Argentina’s success so far and if you are to bet world cup 2010  money on Argentina to win the trophy, you just know he will be at the centre of things.

Rooney and England flopped massively at the second hurdle. Ronaldo never really got going as his Portugal team went out also at the last 16 stage. Argentina and Messi march on. Read the rest of this entry →