•Faiq Bolkiah
Football, in many places of the world, is not only seen as a global obsession but a massive enterprise with billion-dollar valuations.
Top football players are among the richest people on the planet owing to their enormous income, which has been fueled by their large fan following, lucrative sponsorship deals, and large contracts.
This article takes a dive into the top 5 richest footballers in the world as of 2024, reports AFP.
1. Faiq Bolkiah
Faiq Bolkiah is not as famous as some of the world’s best footballers, but he is the wealthiest. Bolkiah is the son of Jefri Bolkiah, the Prince of Brunei, who has an estimated net worth of $20 billion. This makes him the world’s richest footballer by a wide margin.
Bolkiah who plays for Chonburi FC in Thailand has his wealth from his family’s vast oil and gas fortune.
2. Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays for both Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina. He is largely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Messi has an estimated net worth of $600 million, making him one of the world’s richest footballers.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer who plays for both Al Nassr and Portugal. He is largely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Ronaldo has an estimated net worth of $500 million, making him the third richest footballer in the world.
4. Neymar
Neymar is a player that is firmly in contention for being the third-best player of the past decade, and the Brazilian finds himself in the top five of the richest footballers in the world.
Though his stardom hasn’t quite reached the levels of Ronaldo and Messi, Neymar has his networth pegged at a staggering £198 million.
5. Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe might command a large signing-on fee in the coming months after informing PSG that he would leave the club at the end of the 2023/24 season. This means that his net worth could rapidly increase depending on the terms offered by his new club.
He has deals with well-known businesses such as Nike and has appeared on the front cover of multiple FIFA game covers. This, combined with his extremely expensive football pay, makes Mbappe one of only five guys on this list with a net worth of more than £100 million.