Female athletes absent from 2025 Forbes Highest-Paid Athletes list
Forbes recently revealed their list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes for 2025 and, despite a great year for women’s sports globally, no female athletes made the cut.
Notably, tennis superstar Coco Gauff – who is currently the highest-paid female athlete after earning $34,4 million in 2024 – did not make the list.
Sports News Blitz writer Shameeka Voyiya reports on the story.
What the Forbes list reveals
Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list for the third consecutive year, ahead of NBA legend Steph Curry and boxing’s Tyson Fury.
And while congratulations are in order, one must question the lack of female athletes’ names.
Gauff’s estimated total earnings of $34,4 million last year represents one of the best financial hauls for a female athlete ever measured by Forbes.
Yet, she did not rank among the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes.
The cut-off for this year’s top 50 athletes is set at $53,6 million, which is a 19% increase from the $42 million required to make the list in 2024.
Clearly, Gauff’s earnings pale in comparison to what it takes to make the cut – but why?
READ MORE: Sponsorship of women’s sport grew 22 per cent in 2024, Deloitte says
Gendered earnings gap
According to Forbes, the issue comes down to salaries and prize money, which are both tied to league revenue and the crucial role of media rights fees.
As a result, soaring revenues in men’s sports are pushing the top 50 earnings out of reach for women.
Forbes explained: “For example, the WNBA more than tripled its media rights fees to an annual average of $200 million under a series of new broadcast deals negotiated by the NBA. But the NBA raised its own mark to $6,9 billion from $3 billion.
“Considering that massive gap, it’s easy to see why basketball superstar Caitlin Clark is earning just over $150,000 in salary across her first two WNBA seasons, whereas Victor Wembanyama, the NBA’s top pick before Clark went pro, pocketed nearly $25 million between his freshman and sophomore campaigns.”
It is thus clear that the Forbes ranking represents a broader issue within sport, with the gap in commercial revenue – including sponsorships – between men and women continuing to widen.
So while Gauff’s earnings were phenomenal in their own right, missing the Forbes list by almost $19,2 million is nothing less than proof of a gender gap in sports earnings.
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There is hope for female athletes
Serena Williams was the last woman to make the list, doing so in 2023 for her sixth appearance in nine years.
Only three other female athletes have qualified for the top 50 since 2012: tennis stars Li Na, Maria Sharapova, and Naomi Osaka.
Interestingly, tennis Grand Slam tournaments have tried to level the playing field by offering equal prize money to men and women.
Despite this disappointing show of inequality, women’s sports continue to show promising financial growth each year, with Deloitte estimating that they will collectively reach $2,35 billion in global revenue this year.
That is a notable increase over 2024’s $1,88 billion and 2023’s $981 million – and is something worth celebrating.
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