An encouraging number of black athletes have been named among the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes.
The list includes the likes of Naomi Osaka, LeBron James, Lewis Hamilton, Dele Ali, Paul Pogba, and Anthony Joshua among others.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi topped the list, with eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo coming in second place.
This is despite the fact that Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram, with 238 million followers compared to Messi’s 167 million.
The study on the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes was done by SportsPro and considered some key factors.
The factors include “social following, content engagement, fanbase growth over time, media value, and the performance of branded versus organic content.”
James is rated as the third Most Marketable Athlete after the two football stars, as Neymar Junior comes in fifth.
Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, and Pogba make the top 20, while Joshua and Osaka are ranked 31st and 33rd, respectively.
See the top 50 athletes list below:
50. Russell Westbrook (Basketball)
49. Mikaela Shiffrin (Skiing)
48. Ashleigh Barty (Tennis)
47. Dorothea Wierer (Biathlon)
46. Katelyn Ohashi (Gymnastics)
45. Katrin Davidsdottir (Crossfit)
44. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Basketball)
43. Zion Williamson (Basketball)
42. Anthony Davis (Basketball)
41. Carissa Moore (Surfing)
40. Bethany Hamilton (Surfing)
39. Dele Alli (Soccer)
38. Kelia Termini (Surfing)
37. Charles Leclerc (Motorsport)
36. Luka Doncic (Basketball)
35. Roger Federer (Tennis)
34. Son Heung-min (Soccer)
33. Naomi Osaka (Tennis)
32. Tyson Fury (Boxing)
31. Anthony Joshua (Boxing)
30. Tom Brady (US Football)
29. Anna Gasser (Snowboarding)
28. Rafael Nadal (Tennis)
27. Sky Brown (Skateboarding)
26. Patrick Mahomes (US Football)
25. Megan Rapinoe (Soccer)
24. Jorge Masvidal (MMA)
23. Virgil van Dijk (Soccer)
22. Dina Asher-Smith (Athletics)
21. Lewis Hamilton (Motorsport)
20. Robert Lewandowski (Soccer)
19. Paul Pogba (Soccer)
18. Coco Gauff (Tennis)
17. Alex Morgan (Soccer)
16. Erling Haaland (Soccer)
15. Kylian Mbappe (Soccer)
14. Simone Biles (Gymnastics)
13. Steph Curry (Basketball)
12. Ryan Garcia (Boxing)
11. Eden Hazard (Soccer)
10. Paulo Dybala (Soccer)
9. Mohamed Salah (Soccer)
8. Rohit Sharma (Cricket)
7. Khabib Nurmagomedov (MMA)
6. Neymar Jr (Soccer)
5. Bianca Andreescu (Tennis)
4. Virat Kohli (Cricket)
3. LeBron James (Baskeball)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Soccer)
