The two footballers richer than Cristiano Ronaldo as CR7 officially hits billionaire status
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Cristiano Ronaldo has now reached billionaire status, with an estimated net worth of £1.045billion.
After penning his latest contract with Al-Nassr, the 40-year-old is set to earn around £492million over the next two years, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world.
While Ronaldo has made more money than anyone else from playing football, he’s not the first footballer to reach billionaire status.
We’ve found two other footballers who reportedly boast a higher net worth than Ronaldo.
Note: We’ve not included Mathieu Flamini on our list as the Frenchman has dismissed the claims that he’s a billionaire.
Faiq Bolkiah
Compared to Ronaldo, Bolkiah will have only made a very small fraction of his fortune from his playing career.
The 27-year-old has had stints in the Southampton, Chelsea and Leicester City youth academies, but never made a senior appearance for any of those clubs.
He’s since settled down in Thailand and has played for Ratchaburi since 2023.
With such a modest playing career, you’re probably wondering how Bolkiah has managed to reach billionaire status.
Well, that’s because he’s a member of the Brunei royal family.
While it’s difficult to get a full grasp of Bolkiah’s own personal wealth, the 27-year-old has been described as a billionaire by several sources because of his family ties.
“Whatever people write and everything, I would say I’m just a very simple person, the same schedule every day,” Bolkiah said upon moving to Thailand in 2021.
“I like to focus on football. I don’t like to focus on anything outside.”
While Bolkiah has often been labelled as the ‘richest footballer in the world’, with some sources claiming a net worth of £15billion, he hasn’t let his potential inheritance skew his motivation in life.
“You couldn’t have come across a more normal kid,” his former youth coach, Paul Morgan, told The Athletic in 2020.
“He wasn’t affected by his privileged background at all.”
Louis Saha
Unlike Bolkiah, Saha did enjoy a playing career at the highest level, having played for the likes of Fulham, Man United, Everton and Tottenham.
While the Frenchman will have made a handsome amount of money from his playing career, he’s made the bulk of his fortune in the world of business.
The striker retired from professional football in 2013 and has since co-founded AxisStar, a social media platform designed to connect athletes with trusted service providers and brands.
According to reports, the business has been a huge success and is reportedly valued at over £4billion.
It’s difficult to fully gauge the extent of Saha’s own personal wealth as a lot of it will be tied up in the business, but he’s certainly done well for himself since retiring.
Along with his business ventures, the 47-year-old also does the occasional bit of punditry work and can be seen on Sky Sports from time to time.
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