Becks shoots into rich list
That works out as £25.6m (€38.6m) a year, a figure which includes sponsorship deals associated with Major League Soccer but not all of his personal endorsements.
Here is the list compiled by US magazine Forbes of the top earners in sport over the previous 12 months.
1 Tiger Woods (golf) £46,322,534
2 Michael Schumacher (motor racing) £29,861,531
3 Muhammad Ali (boxing) £28,315,783
4 Phil Mickelson (golf) £24,191,350
5 Michael Jordan (basketball) £16,470,999
6 Kobe Bryant (basketball) £15,955,024
7 Shaquille O’Neal (basketball) £15,955,023
= Valentino Rossi (motorcycling) £15,955,023
9 Alex Rodriguez (baseball) £14,925,999
10 David Beckham (football) £13,896,154.