Indian captain Virat Kohli’s appeal as a bankable brand has been on the upswing ever since he became the first citizen of Indian cricket, taking over the captaincy in all formats from Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the beginning of the year.
And that has been further established by the recent Forbes list of athletes with top brand value, where the Indian captain ranks at number 7, ahead of the Argentinean and Barcelona football star Lionel Messi, who is at the ninth position.
Between Kohli and Messi is the champion Irish golfer Rory McIlroy. Kohli has a brand value of $14.5 million, compared to Messi’s $13.5 million.
Tennis superstar Roger Federer tops the list with a brand value of $37.2 million, followed by basketball star LeBron James with $33.4 million and legendary sprinter Usain Bolt with $27 million.
Here is the list of top 10 most valuable brands among athletes:
1.) Roger Federer $37.2m
2.) LeBron James $33.4m
3.) Usain Bolt $27m
4.) Cristiano Ronaldo $21.5m
5.) Phil Mickelson $19.6m
6.) Tiger Woods $16.6m
7.) Virat Kohli $14.5m
8.) Rory McIlroy $13.6m
9.) Lionel Messi $13.5m
10.) Stephen Curry $13.4m
Forbes calculates the brand value of an athlete by subtracting the average income of the top 10 athletes in the same sport from the total earnings of that athlete, excluding salary and bonus from their sport and all investment income.
