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May 29, 2017 1:00 PM
Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world and it is no surprise that the top football players around the world are among the richest people on this planet. These players have not only been extremely successful on the pitch, they have been intelligent enough to invest wisely and thrive off the pitch as well.
Be it commercial endorsements, real estate, new business ventures or image rights, football players have a number of ways and avenues to build their fortunes. The top 10 list is largely made of household names but there are a few names on this list which will catch you by surprise.
The Premier League might be the richest league, but only 2 Premier League footballers make the list. Also for a change,Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not on top of this list. Without much ado, let us take a look at the top 10 footballers based on net worth (2017) (Source – celebritynetworth.com, France Football magazine)
#10 Andres Iniesta – $90 million
Barcelona’s and Spain’s midfield maestro Andres Iniesta has definitely been among the top 10 footballers in the world in the last decade but what is slightly surprising is the fact that the reticent midfielder is also among the 10 richest footballers in the world.
Drawing a weekly wage of £165,000 from Barcelona, the 2010 World Cup winner has made some shrewd investments which has seen his net worth rise to a mind blogging sum of $90 million.
One of the most popular and well-liked footballers in the world, Iniesta has a string of lucrative commercial endorsements including Nike, Sony, Nissan and Barcelona brewed beer Estrella Damm. He also has a palatial house Castilla-La-Mancha (Spain) and has made another couple of investments in real estate.
Iniesta is definitely a clever operator both on and off the pitch.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#9 Ezequiel Lavezzi – $94 million
Former PSG and Napoli footballer Ezequiel Lavezzi has a net worth of $96 million and most of it is because of the extremely high salary (£400,00/week) he gets from Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune.
The Argentine footballer was looking for one final payday after PSG and boy did the winger luck out when Chinese Super League came calling for him. One of the highest paid footballers in the world, Lavezzi’s other investments are not very clear although France Football estimates him to earn a handsome amount through endorsements and other business deals.
While Lavezzi has not exactly set the League on fire with his performances, the Argentine is definitely laughing all the way to the bank thanks to his extremely lucrative contract and salary.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#8 Wayne Rooney – $128 million
The 10th highest paid footballer (salary) in the world right now, Wayne Rooney is the 8th richest footballer in the world in terms of net worth. Earning a cool £15.6 million every year, the England international might be playing next season at a new club.
Settling for a bit-part role under Jose Mourinho this year, Rooney’s powers as a top notch footballer have firmly been on the decline, but the United number ‘10’ still manages to rake in moolah because of his business ventures, investments and many commercial endorsements.
Rooney’s net worth has been built because of deals with Nike, Harper Colins, Coca-Cola and EA Sports in the past. Also, the former Everton star has made some investments in a hotel at Newcastle and in some real estate.
The poster boy of English football a few years back, it is no surprise to see Rooney ranked among the richest footballers in the world.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic – $160 million
A player who has his own hashtag, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a name which threatens to become bigger than the sport itself on many occasions. The mercurial Swedish striker has played for almost all the top clubs in Europe, having won league titles with all of them except his current club Manchester United.
He has represented the likes of Ajax, Inter Milan, AC Milan, PSG, Juventus and Manchester United and earned a handsome salary wherever he has played. Also, the name Zlatan was trademarked in 2003, which meant that he received exclusive rights to the name of products such as clothing and sporting goods.
He recently signed a lucrative 3-year-deal with sportswear giants Nike and also has his own line of sportswear named ‘A-Z’. He also had sponsorship deals with Nivea Men and Microsoft’s Xbox.
He also has a signature cologne, aptly named ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic Supreme’. He is one of the ambassadors for Swedish automobile giants ‘Volvo’ and has recently signed up to promote ‘Vitamin Well’ – a Swedish health drinks company.
While the future of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's career is uncertain, one thing which is certain is the fact that the Swedish superstar is one of the most popular and richest footballers in the world.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#6 Gareth Bale – $165 million
One of the ‘galacticos’ in Real Madrid, Gareth Bale is one of the richest athletes in the world at the moment, Having recently signed a blockbuster contract which will see him earn an eye-watering £18 million per season, Bale has marketed himself cleverly off the pitch as well.
A sponsor’s dream and his country’s (Wales) pin-up boy and best footballer by a distance, Bale has plenty of lucrative commercial endorsements such as Adidas, Nissan, Foot Locker, EA Sports and Lucozade among others.
Having recently been made the face of Adidas along with Lionel Messi till 2020, the Welshman earns a cool £20 million through the famous German company alone. While he has not invested too much in businesses and other ventures, the Real Madrid winger does own a company called PrimeSure Limited where he is a majority stakeholder with 60%.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#5 Neymar – $190 million
Neymar earns a cool £275,000/week from Barcelona, but the Brazilian is the only active footballer who earns more from endorsements than his salary. While Ronaldo’s and Messi’s endorsement account up to 34% and 36% respectively of their total pay, Neymar earns a whopping 61% of his total earnings through endorsements (facts courtesy – Goal.com).
Easily the most popular athlete in Brazil, Neymar has a massive audience in South America and has the third most followers on social media for footballers after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Some of his famous sponsorship deals include Nike, Gillette, Panasonic and Red Bull among many others. Neymar is also the partner in a company called NN Consultoria along with his mother Nadine. Some of NN Consortium’s famous clients include Olympic gold medallist Thiago Braz and Santos' youngster Arthur Gomes.
One of the most marketable faces in world football at the moment, Neymar’s net worth is only set to soar in the coming years.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#4 Dave Whelan – $210 million
A former Blackburn Rovers and Crew Alexandra full-back, Dave Whelan is one of the very few footballers known more for his skills in business rather than his skills on the football pitch.
Whelan is the owner of former Premier League club Wigan Atheltic. He is also the owner of DW Stadium, the stadium in which Wigan Atheltic and Wigan Warriors (Rugby team) play their matches.
After a decent playing career, Whelan first cut his teeth into marketing when he opened Whelan stores which was taken over for a huge amount of money. He later took over JJB sports and renamed it to DW sports which earned him a fortune and made him one of the richest footballers in the world.
Dave Whelan is the only former footballer to have owned a club which has played in the Premier League.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#3 Lionel Messi – $295 million
The only footballer ever to win the Ballon d’Or five times, Lionel Messi is an absolute phenomenon. The diminutive Argentine has been Barcelona’s main man since 2008 and has put in some spell bounding performances in the Champions League. With a market value of €120 million, Lionel Messi is the second most valuable player in the world currently.
Most figures put Messi’s salary to be around £330,000/week after tax about £30,000 lesser than Ronaldo. However, Messi earns more than $20 million a year from sponsors including Adidas, Audemars Piguet, PepsiCo, Gillette, Turkish Airlines and Electronic Arts. Also, Adidas released a limited edition commemorative Messi shoe after Messi broke Barcelona’s all-time scoring record in March and it sold out within an hour in the U.S.
Last year, Messi also portrayed the role of Iron Man in Samsung ad campaigns to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron. He may not be as flamboyant as Cristiano Ronaldo, but his on-field performances and his quiet lifestyle make him trustworthy and a highly marketable figure.
Also, while Messi’s business ventures are not well known, it is known that he has invested in some real estate in his hometown of Rosario. Messi’s salary is set to increase with his new contract and the Argentine maestro’s net worth might well go up next year.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo – $400 million
Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest paid sportsman in the world this year and it probably comes as a surprise that the Real Madrid superstar does not top the list. He is the Europe’s highest paid player (ahead of Messi) and he has a string of high-profile commercial endorsements as well.
Ronaldo earns nearly $53M plus bonuses in a year at Real Madrid. The $40 million Ronaldo earned from his sponsors, is more than any other footballer in the World, is due to his Nike deal which has provision for bonuses based on his performance.
His income from endorsements has risen steadily with the addition of deals with watchmaker Tag Heuer and Emirates Airlines. He is also the world's most popular athlete, with 112 million fans on Facebook and 43.8 million Twitter followers. He has his own underwear and shirt line called CR7 as well.
His net worth has risen more than 80 million dollars in just over a year. This has largely been due to Ronaldo opening two hotels named Pestana CR7 in his home country Portugal. He has also invested in a chain of gyms with US company Crunch with the first outlet in his name expected to open in Madrid.
With Ronaldo the among the most marketable active footballers in the world, it will not come as much of a surprise if the Portuguese superstar heads this lsit next year.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
#1 David Beckham – $450 million
Everyone in the world knows David Beckham. People who have never watched football in their life know David Beckham. Beckham is as synonymous with England as fish and chips and is one of the most recognisable sports athletes in the world.
Beckham was a very accomplished footballer as well and he has represented some of the world’s most prestigious clubs like Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and PSG. With his good looks and charismatic persona, Beckham is the king of the endorsement world having deals with Adidas, H&M and Armani among numerous others.
On 5 February 2014, MLS announced that Beckham had exercised his option to buy a MLS expansion team for $25 million, which he had received as part of the contract he signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. His Miami team is currently looking for a stadium and could start playing as early as next season.
A champion on and off the field, David Beckham is the footballer with the highest net worth in the world. Let us now take a look at some honourable mentions and how these footballers compare to the richest people in the world.
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Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo and a number of other footballers have amassed quite a fortune!
Honourable mentions
Mathieu Flamini kept the his business venture a secret, but a biochemical company he founded along with his partner Granata, GF Biochemicals seem to have found an alternative fuel source to Petrol. Flamini’s company is the only company which produces industrial-level standards of the wood fuel and his value could soon rise up to an unbelievable $20 billion making him one of the richest people in the world.
Let us now take a look at footballers ranked from 11th to 15th in terms of net worth:
#11 Toni Kroos – $86 million
#12 Thomas Muller – $84 million
#13 Paul Pogba – $80 million
#14 Carlos Tevez – $75 million
#15 Kaka – $70 million
Comparing these footballers to the world’s richest people, we see that only Flamini has a realistic chance of competing with them in the future.
These are the 5 richest people in the world:
#1 Bill Gates – $88.5 billion
#2 Warren Buffett – $74.1 billion
#3 Jeff Bezos – $74 billion
#4 Amancio Ortega – $72 billion
#5 Mark Zuckerberg – $65 billion
The world’s highest worth footballer David Beckham is nowhere near them, but there is no denying the fact that footballers are some of the best-paid sportsmen in the world.
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