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Cristiano Ronaldo named the wealthiest athlete in the world

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid sportsperson for the second successive year, Forbes' annual list of the world's wealthiest athletes shows.

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With earnings of £71.8million ($93m) the 32-year-old Portuguese is top of the pile for the second consecutive year.

Portugal captain Ronaldo topped the influential business magazine's list for the first time 12 months ago.

The Euro 2016 winner earned $93m (£72.05m) from salary, bonuses and endorsements last year.

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The 32-year-old saw his earnings rise $5m (£3.87m) a year on.

The list of elite athletes consists of players from 11 different sports. Basketball dominates the list with a record 32 NBA players among the top 100, up from 18 in 2016, followed by baseball with 22 players, American football with 15 and football with 9.

There are 21 countries represented on this year's World's Highest-Paid Athletes list, with Americans (63) the most prevalent thanks to sky-high salaries in basketball, football and baseball.

Six Brits landed in the top 100, led by golfer Rory McIlroy at No 6 with £38.6m ($50m). NBA player Al Horford (No 44 with £21.7m ($28.1m) heads five athletes from the Dominican Republic, while three Spaniards made the cut with Formula One's Fernando Alonso on top at No 20 with £27.9m ($36m).

No other country had more than two athletes in the 100.

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