Our Methodology

Evidence hierarchy

We prioritise official and primary sources — the MLS Players Association salary guide, exchange filings, court records and corporate accounts — followed by tier-one wires (Reuters, AP, Bloomberg) and premium business press (Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Cinco Días / El País). Specialist outlets (Sportico, Skift, Simple Flying) are used within their domains. Celebrity aggregators sit at the bottom of the hierarchy: we use them only as baselines or to debunk rumours, never as the basis for a headline figure.

Four distinct concepts

Much public commentary conflates four different things. We keep them strictly separate: official contractual salary (what the MLSPA guide lists), all-in annual economics (salary plus revenue shares and commercial mechanisms — the $70–80M/year figure), career earnings (cumulative pre-tax income over two decades), and net worth (what remains after tax and spending, plus asset appreciation). A figure only means something when you know which of the four it is — our glossary defines each.

Confidence ratings

• High — official filings or multiple tier-one outlets independently agree.
• Medium — reasoned analyst estimates or management statements not independently audited.
• Low — inferences or unverified private valuations, included for completeness and labelled as such.

Case study 1 — how we arrived at the $1.1B headline

Our net-worth figure is a reconciliation, not a single citation. In June 2026 Forbes confirmed Messi as a billionaire at roughly $1.1 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index independently placed him above $1.0 billion, and Sportico reported he crossed the billion-dollar mark after his Inter Miami extension. Celebrity Net Worth, by contrast, listed $850 million — but aggregators systematically lag private-asset appreciation, so we weight them lowest. Three independent tier-one estimates converging above $1B earns the headline figure a High rating. Because no audited balance sheet exists, we also publish the honest analytical range — $850M–$1.2B — rather than pretending to precision the evidence doesn't support.

Case study 2 — how we handle private valuations

Edificio Rostower, Messi's listed Spanish property vehicle, shows the method under harder conditions. The company's value is public: it floated at €223 million, so the corporate figure is High confidence. But Messi's personal stake percentage has never been disclosed — so the slice of that €223M belonging on his personal balance sheet is rated Low, and the uncertainty flows through to our net-worth range. Where a value is simply unknown — PepsiCo, Mastercard, Hard Rock deal fees — we write Undisclosed rather than inventing an estimate. And when a venture fails, we write the zero down: the Más+ drink is carried at $0 since its January 2026 discontinuation, with the full story on its record page.

Updates and corrections

Figures carry a "last updated" stamp, and structured data is reviewed when new primary reporting lands. If you spot an error or hold a better source, use the corrections page — substantiated corrections change the figure and its confidence rating.

Editorial integrity

Articles are drafted with AI assistance from a topic queue, then reviewed and published by a human editor who adds first-hand context and verifies every number against this methodology. We never auto-publish unreviewed AI content.