Football or Soccer is the most popular and most followed sports all over the world. It is a sport that both young and old, males and females love. It is also no longer news that footballers are one of the richest people in the world. In this article, I will bring you a comprehensive and up to date list of the World Richest Footballers in 2018. We will be looking at the Top 10 Richest Players and their net worth.
Who Are The World Richest Footballers in 2018? Are you looking for the World richest soccer players in 2018? Look no further. We have compiled the list of top 10 world richest players here for you. Our list of top 10 World Richest Players is up to date. It is adapted from information from Sunday Times rich list, Forbes, and Goal.com. These footballers are really making so much money doing what they love.
Check This Out: Richest Football Managers – Top 10 Richest Football Coaches In The World 2018
Last time, we looked at the top 10 World richest football coaches. Today, it is the turn of the players. The list of top 10 players is made up of top footballers playing in the top European leagues. We’re only looking at the footballers who are still playing at the time of this publication and also those who made their money from football.
Who Are The World Richest Footballers 2018
Recently, it was revealed that the current richest footballer is not Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi or Neymar Jnr. To the greatest surprise of many including myself, the current World richest footballer is Prince Faiq Bolkiah who currently plays for Leicester City. While the others made their money from Salaries and publicity endorsements, Faiq Bolkiah owes his large fortune to family inheritance.
Prince Faiq Bolkiah – Who is He?
Prince Faiq Bolkiah is one of the heirs to the very rich Sultan of Brunei. The Leicester City winger who is yet to make a professional debut for the club owes his vast wealth to the family he comes from rather than football. According to Forbes, the Emir of Brunei who was once the richest man on earth is currently worth over $20 billion. He is currently the 3rd richest family in the world.
Father Jefri Bolkiah, father of Faiq Bolkiah is a brother of the Sultan and this automatically makes Faiq an important member of the Bolkiah royal family. He is thus considered the world richest footballer in 2018.
World Richest Footballers 2018
For the purpose of this article, however, we are not going to consider Faiq Bolkiah as one of the World Richest players 2018. This is because He owes his wealth to his family rather than football. We’re looking at footballers who made their money from football and have paid their dues as far as Football is concerned. Below is our list of top 10 richest Football players in the world.
1: Cristiano Ronaldo
Current Cristiano Ronaldo’s Net Worth: £250 million ($321.5 million)
Cristiano Ronaldo who plays for Real Madrid and Portugal tops the list of World Richest Players 2018. The Former Manchester United star along with Lionel Messi has dominated the world football for over 10years now. He has guided Real Madrid to a back to back UEFA Champions League title and also looks well on course to retain the cup for the third year running.
Ronaldo who is known for his speed, skills and ability to find the back of the net with ease is also considered the highest paid athlete in the world. He makes his money from his salary and endorsements.
Ronaldo earns a whopping £19.2 million per year as salary in Real Madrid After Tax. He has a lot of endorsements with top companies ” like Nike, Tag Heuer, and Armani and has his own CR7 brand which sells aftershave and clothing.
2: Lionel Messi
Current Lionel Messi’s Net Worth: £230 million ($295 million)
Lionel Messi is the second on our list of top 10 richest footballers 2018. The Argentine and Barcelona forward is known for natural abilities on the able, incredible dribbling, goal scoring, Free kick taking and much more. Messi is considered the best football player of all time by many around the world. Though the diminutive superstar earns about £5m more than Ronaldo, he fell short in the number of endorsements he has to his name.
Lionel Messi earns half a million every week and £26 million a year ($33.4 million) from his latest contract renewal with Barcelona. He also makes £21 million ($27 million) a year from sponsorship agreements with the likes of Adidas, Pepsi, Gillette, and Turkish Airlines and more. Messi is dully second on our list of top 10 highest paid footballers in the world. He is also considered one of the highest paid athletes on the planet.
3: Neymar Jnr
Neymar’s Net worth: $148M
Neymar is the most expensive footballer in the world. He is however not the first on the World richest footballers list. The deal which saw the skilful Brazillian forward switch from FC Barcelona to PSG was worth €222M making him the most expensive footballer ever. He also earns a whopping salary of £26 million per year. He also has endorsements with the likes of Nike, Panasonic, Gilette, Claro, Red Bull and manages his own business as well.
4: Zlatan Ibrahimović
Ibrahimovic’s Net worth: $141 million
Zlatan Ibrahimovic currently plays his football at New York City FC. The giant Swede sits comfortably fourth on our list of top 10 world richest players. His current contract is yet to be revealed but with a lot of Lucrative endorsement deals, Ibra, as he is popularly called remains one of the highest paid soccer players in the world in 2018. He has a lucrative deal with Nike and has his businesses too. He has retired from international football.
5: Wayne Rooney
Rooney’s Net Worth: $120 million
Wayne Rooney is the former Manchester United and England Captain and sits 5th on our list of top 10 world Richest footballers. Rooney who left Manchester United in the summer is the club’s leading goal scorer of all time. The forward took a 50% pay cut to join his boyhood club Everton in a deal that reportedly pays him £7.8 million per year in salary. He also has some top endorsements with leading brands. Rooney has retired from international football with the English National team.
6: Eden Hazard
Current Eden Hazard’s Net worth: £77 million ($100 million)
Eden Hazard plays for Chelsea football club and Belgium. The diminutive star who is known for his abilities on the ball earns £12.4 million ($16 million) per year in salary at Chelsea. Belgian who is also one of the best football players has some lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike, trading card company Topps and Biscoff biscuit manufacturers Lotus Bakeries. He is currently one of the top 10 richest footballers in 2018.
7: Gareth Bale
Bale’s Net worth: £56 million ($72 million)
Gareth Bale Plays for Real Madrid and Wales. He earns a whopping £18.2 million ($23.4 million) a year in salary. Once. Bale regarded as the next big thing in football, Bale has not lived up to that expectation so far. That has not affected his pay cheque though thus making him one of the World richest Footballers in 2018. His sponsorship agreements with Adidas, Electronic Arts, Sony, and Footlocker are said to worth in the region of £9 million per year.
8: Yaya Touré, Manchester City
Toure’s Net worth: £43 million ($55 million)
Yaya Touré plays for Manchester City Football club. After lots of speculation surrounding his future at city, Toure ended the season at city and went on to win the EPL for the 3rd time. The former Ivorian international who was previously earning £10.4 million ($13.3 million) a year was said to have taken a pay cut to remain at the club. Though he was at the periphery this season, Toure remains one of the World richest footballers in 2018.
9: Sergio Agüero
Sergio Agüero Net worth: £40 million ($51 million)
Agüero plays for Argentina and Manchester City. Aguero’s salary at City is £10.4 million ($13.3 million) a year. He earns a mega £14 million ($18 million) from his endorsements with Puma and Pepsi thus making him one of the top10 world richest footballers in the world in 2018.
Aguero will be aiming to add the FIFA world cup trophy to his cabinet this summer. The skill full and lethal striker guided his Manchester City side to the Premier League trophy with a record number of points. City amassed a point total of
10: John Terry
John Terry’s Net worth: £39 million ($50 million)
Former Chelsea and English captain John Terry is the last on our list of top ten World richest players. John Terry left Chelsea last summer as the club’s most successful player and captain of all time. He joined Aston Villa in July 2017 on a deal worth £4 million ($5 million) per year to make him one of the top 10 world richest footballers in 2018.
After extensive research, the above 10 players made our list of top 10 world richest footballers. All the players in our list top ten World richest footballers above are still playing as at the time of this publication. We also looked at Faiq Bolkiah who by inheritance is the richest footballer or athlete in the world.
What do you think of the top 10 World Richest Players listed above? Did we miss anything in our World Richest Footballers 2018 list above?