Football is an extremely lucrative game that is played in more than 200 nations around the world. With more than 250 million people playing this game, football is also perhaps the most-watched sport nowadays. Given its popularity, there’s no doubt that many footballers had the option to snatch a huge number of dollars worth of contracts for certain games associations and renowned teams. As you’re reading this, you probably already have names springing up in your head about who will appear on the rundown of the richest soccer players.
Top 10 Richest Footballer in the World
10. Thierry Henry
Total assets: $130 Million
A football legend with ever-green accomplishments, Thierry Henry is, in fact, an inspirational soccer player. Regarded as perhaps the best player of his time, Henry’s name was always on sports journals’ headlines during the 2000s. In the initial seven years of the 2000s, Henry was a dominant player in the Arsenal football squad, as he drove the team to two league titles and the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.
During his stretch with Arsenal, he claimed the EPL Golden boot multiple times, and he remains the club’s all-time most significant standard scorer. Following his effective spell with Arsenal, Henry proceeded to join Barcelona. He was an instrumental player in assisting Barcelona with claiming their notable high pitch in the 2008/09 season. Now resigned, Henry now works as a football manager. Thierry Henry’s total assets are right now estimated to be $130 million.
9. Gareth Bale
Total assets: $145 Million
A first-class star, Gareth Bale is generally known for his extraordinary free-kick ability. The Welsh footballer who plays for the Tottenham Hotspurs is on loan from Real Madrid. While he was playing for Real Madrid, Gareth Bale was one of the brilliant strikers that shaped the club’s massively dangerous attacking threesome, named BBC, which involves Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Bale.
That attacking triplet helped Real Madrid to three progressive UEFA Champions League wins. Bale’s football talents caught the interest of prominent clubs after his amazing first seasons with Tottenham Hotspurs. He claimed the PFA Young Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, FWA Player of the Season. Bale is also a six-time Welsh Player of the Year awardee. Gareth Bale’s total assets are right now estimated to be $145 million, which ranks him as the ninth richest soccer player on the planet.
8. Ronaldo
Total assets: $160 Million
Nicknamed O Fenômeno (“The Phenomenon”), Ronaldo is without a doubt phenomenal, as he’s one of the greatest soccer players the world has at any point seen. Even though they resigned, the star’s impact and achievement are still new in the personalities of avid soccer fans. The renowned soccer star played for multiple huge names in European club football, including domestic rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona and AC Milan and Inter Milan. At the age of 20, the football star claimed the renowned FIFA World Player of the Year award, making him the youngest recipient of the award.
He proceeded to win the award on two additional occasions and also the Ballon d’Or multiple times. Even though Ronaldo was a remarkable football player, UEFA Champions League magnificence evaded him, but he compensated for it by winning two FIFA World Cups. Ronaldo’s total assets are approximately $160 million out of 2021. Even though Ronaldo not, at this point, an active player, he is actively engaged with the football world. He is the majority proprietor of the La Liga side, Real Valladolid.
7. Wayne Rooney
Total assets: $170 Million
English football star, Wayne Rooney, is no stranger to football fans, as he has spent the majority of his playing career in perhaps the most popular football leagues on the planet, the English Premier League.
Rooney, who plays as a forward, began his soccer career at Everton before proceeding onward to Manchester United, two years after debuting for Everton, unequivocally 2004. In the 14 seasons he spent at Manchester United, Rooney won 16 prizes and became one of only two players in EPL history to at any point win the English Premier League, F.A. Cup, League Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Rooney supplements those achievements by being the club’s all-time most significant standard scorer. On the international football front, the four-time England Player of the Year drove his country to three FIFA World Cups. Rooney is England’s National Football side’s youngest goalscorer and the team’s all-time most significant standard scorer. At present, the English Football League Championship club, Derby County, Wayne Rooney’s net worth is approximately $170 million.
6. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Total assets: $190 Million
An aggressive footballer with exceptional abilities, Zlatan Ibrahimović, is undoubtedly one of the world’s ideal. The Swedish football star has played for several top football clubs on the planet. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came to the attention of football fans while at Ajax in the early 2000s. Before long, his antics with the club earned him a place with Juventus before he transferred to Inter Milan, where he claimed three progressive Serie A titles.
His great structure at Inter Milan earned him a transfer to Barcelona, which is possibly the most costly transfer in football history. At Barcelona, Zlatan Ibrahimovic won the UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, before moving back to Serie A. His football ability has seen him play for other top clubs, like PSG, where he arose as the club’s all-time most significant standard scorer, Manchester United, and right now AC Milan. He is the Swedish national football team’s all-time most significant standard scorer.
As of 2021, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s total assets are estimated to be $190 million.
5. Neymar
Total assets: $200 Million
One of the world’s greatest soccer players, Brazilian sensation Neymar is an inspirational star in the game with several astounding achievements. The PSG forward began creating a name for himself at 17 while playing for the Brazilian football club Santos. From 2003 until 2013, Neymar ends up being an integral part of the Brazilian football side, recording outstanding performances and leading the club to various tournament triumphs, for example, the 2011 Copa Libertadores, Santos first in nearly half a century. His performances with Santos earned him the South American Footballer of the Year on two occasions.
After moving to the Laliga side, Barcelona, in 2023, framed a damaging attacking threesome with individual South American footballers Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. That triplet drove the side to win a continental trip in 2015, with Neymar completing third in that year’s Ballon d’Or. In 2017, Neymar got a €222 million world-record transfer to Ligue 1 side, PSG, where he presently plays. Alongside french miracle kid, Mbappé, Neymar keeps on demonstrating damage to adversary teams’ guard.
Neymar has recorded fantastic accomplishments on the international front, for example, his 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup win and Brazil’s first-historically speaking Olympics football Gold, which Neymar drove the team to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer Olympics. He is the Brazilian national side’s all-time second-most significant standard scorer. Neymar’s total assets are presently valued at $200 million, making him the fifth richest soccer player on the planet.
4. Dave Whelan
Total assets: $210 Million
Dave Whelan‘s name may not be broadly known in football circles, but the previous player at present ranks as one of the richest soccer players on the planet. From 1956 to 1966, Dave Whelan played professionally for Blackburn Rovers F.C. and Crewe Alexandra.
Notwithstanding, his soccer career was not marked by great and astounding feats, as most individuals on this rundown. After resigning from professional soccer, Whelan zeroed in on business, constructing an amazing business domain, which is why he features so high on this rundown. His endeavor into the business world began with Whelan Discount Stores’ establishment, which he offered to the British supermarket chain Morrison’s in 1978 for £1.5 million.
Since the effective sale of his Supermarket chain, Whelan has wandered into other organizations, for example, the establishment of the fishing and sports store JJB Sports, which is based in Wigan, and the acquisition of D.W. Sports Fitness. Whelan’s most noticeable undertaking was the acquisition of Football League Championship club Wigan Athletic in 1995. He filled in as chairman of the club for about 20 years before handing affairs over to his grandson, who later offered the club to International Entertainment Corporation. Dave Whelan’s total assets are at present valued at $210 million, making him the second richest resigned soccer player ever.
3. David Beckham
Total assets: $450 Million
An inspirational footballer of his era, David Beckham‘s impact on the planet at the stature of his playing career was stunning. Beckham began his great football career at the age of 17 with EPL side Manchester United. Beckham demonstrated instrumental to the club’s six league titles at United, two F.A. Cup and one UEFA Champions League wins.
He then expanded the ranks of a star-studded Real Madrid team, where he burned through four seasons. Beckham proceeded to win the La Liga championship with the club in his last season. Following his four seasons stretch with Real Madrid, Beckham made an exceptionally advanced move to Major League Soccer club L. A. Galaxy before getting back to Europe, where he played on loan for Serie A side AC Milan for two seasons.
Beckham called it stops on professional football after a short stretch with Ligue 1 team, PSG. The famous fashion big shot had several endorsement deals at the tallness of his career. David Beckham’s total assets are estimated to be $450 million, which presently ranks him as the richest resigned soccer player. Beckham now has several undertakings, for example, his American professional soccer club, Inter Miami C.F., where he filled in as president, and English League 2 club, Salford City F.C.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
Total assets: $500 Million
In any conversation about the greatest soccer players of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo‘s name would always be referenced. This does not shock anyone as the Portuguese football star has created a strong reputation for himself, rivaled by a couple of players and matched in flow football history by his Argentine rival, Lionel Messi. Ronaldo’s prosperity has elevated him to a status in football; only a couple of players can boast of it. His achievement in football has profited him significantly financially.
Ronaldo has played for EPL side, Manchester United, La Liga side, Real Madrid, and presently, Serie A club, Juventus. In all the teams he has played in, Ronaldo has achieved remarkable achievement, notable of his three progressive UEFA Champions League win with Real Madrid. In individual accomplishments, Ronaldo does not lack. He has won the Ballon d’Or multiple times, making him one of only two players to have done this, and also claimed the European Golden Shoe multiple times, a record for a European player.
In international football, Ronaldo is equally effective. The tallness of his accomplishment in the international scene was at the 2016 Euros, where he drove his side to triumph. These accomplishments and achievement, has seen Ronaldo get mouth-watering deals in contracts with clubs and endorsement deals with top brands, like Nike, DAZN, Herbalife, and others. Also, Ronaldo is the principal football player to cross the $1 billion mark in pre-tax earning. Cristiano Ronaldo’s total assets as of 2021 are approximately $500 million, making him the second richest soccer player on the planet.
1. Lionel Messi
Total assets: $600 Million
A top candidate for the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) title, Lionel Messi‘s football ability is unmatched. Perhaps the greatest footballer ever, Lionel Messi, keeps on setting up astounding and amazing performances in any event when his team disappoints. The Argentine superstar who captain’s La Liga side Barcelona, where he has been playing professionally since 2004, lay claims to several stunning achievements in the game. The star player who began demonstrating his value as an exceptionally talented player directly from his debut season was instrumental to Barcelona’s first high pitch in 2009, preceding repeating the feat in 2015.
He is the all-time La Liga’s most significant standard scorer and has also driven Barcelona to multiple league and domestic titles. Messi has recorded amazing feats in individual laurels. He has claimed six Ballon d’Or titles, the most elevated in the history of world football. On the international front, Lionel Messi has not seen a lot of progress for a player of his caliber, despite repeatedly making it to the final top tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup. He, in any case, is Argentina’s all-time most significant standard scorer.
His impact and achievement have seen him written inconceivably financially rewarding deals in contracts and endorsement deals with notable brands, like Adidas and Pepsi. Lionel Messi’s total assets are approximately $600 million, which ranks him as the world’s richest soccer player in 2021.