When it comes to the top earners in world football, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo sit at the absolute top. Be it their salaries at their respective clubs or sponsorship earnings, the two GOATs still remain at the top. But, neither of them is the ‘richest in the world’ in terms of footballers.
Despite having been at the top of their game for more than 15 years, neither Messi nor Ronaldo occupies the No. 1 spot as far as the ‘richest footballer’ is concerned. The man holding that spot is Faiq Bolkiah.
Bolkiah is the son of the Prince of Brunei, Jefri Bolkiah. His uncle Hassanal is the Sultan of the country.
Bolkiah isn’t a name that is unfamiliar to the English Premier League fans. He has spent the early few years of his career at Southampton, Chelsea, and Leicester City. However, in 2020, he joined Maritimo after failing to establish himself in English football.
At present, Bolkiah is in Thailand with Chonburi. He has also represented his national team on a total of 6 occasions so far.
Bolkiah’s net worth is a whopping $20 billion
What’s surprising is that neither of Messi and Ronaldo occupies the No. 2 spot on the list too. The second place is held by former Arsenal midfield Mathieu Flamini. He is the co-founder of GF Biochemicals which is located in Italy.
Flamini’s net worth is $10 billion.
How much and Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi worth?
Ronaldo and Messi occupy the No. 3 and No. 4 spot in the list.
The Manchester United striker has big sponsorship deals with Nike, ZTE, KFC, Samsung and a number of other top brands. His own luxury clothing brand CR7 also contributes big to his overall earnings.
Overall, Ronaldo is valued at $500 million.
Messi slots in right behind Ronaldo but there’s a $100 million gap between the two. Messi also has some big sponsorship contracts with Pepsi, MasterCard, and Budweiser.
The Argentine maestro’s net worth is $400 million at present.
