The World's Richest Football Player. How Wealthy Is He?
The richest footballer in the world is neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo, and his wealth has nothing to do with sport. He has ten times the money of Messi and Ronaldo combined.
We are talking about 24-year-old Faiq Bolkiah, who is the grandson of Brunei's sultan Hasnal Bolkiah. Born on May 9, 1998, the young man now plays for Chonburi in Thailand, and his fortune is estimated at $20 billion.
His father wanted Faiq to live away from the eccentric and opulent life of the royal family in Brunei, a small state on the rich southeast Asian island of Borneo.
"My parents have always supported me in my quest to achieve my dream. They prepared me psychologically and physically as a child; they are my role models," Faiq Bolkiah told FourFourTwo in one of his few interviews.
Unfortunately, Faiq Bolkiah's performance on the football field is not as great as his wealth.
According to transfermarkt.com, Bolkiah's market value is €200,000.
Who Is The World's Richest Football Player
Born in Los Angeles, Faiq Bolkiah trained as a player at the English club AFC Newbury.
In 2009, while at Newbury, he signed a one-year contract with Southampton. In 2014, he signed a two-year contract with Chelsea after training with Reading and Arsenal.
During his time at Arsenal, he played in the 2013 Lion City Cup against Corinthians, Eintracht Frankfurt, PSV, and the Singapore National Football Academy; he scored a goal against the latter.
With his contract with Chelsea expiring on June 30, 2016, he left the team in December 2015. He then trained with Stoke City before signing a three-year contract with Leicester City.
At the end of the 2020–2021 season, Leicester City terminated his contract, and Faiq moved to Portuguese side Marítimo, but after just 2 appearances for the B team in December 2021, he was released for not performing as expected.
"When I signed with Marítimo, I also had offers from clubs in La Liga who wanted to take me and loan me to the Segunda División. I didn't want to go. Marítimo told me I would play, and that was all I wanted. But that didn't happen, and I regret going there. They weren't honest at all; there was a lot of politics involved," Bolkiah said in an interview with the Thai press.
After this experience, Faiq decided to go to Asia, and that's how he ended up in Thailand. Bolkiah also played six matches for Brunei's national team, for which he scored a goal in a match against Timor-Leste.
It is said of the Brunei player that if he bought all the players from all the top league teams in England, Spain, Italy, and Germany, he would still be left with a billion euros to spend.
Who Is The Second Richest Footballer
The answer is Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo's wealth is well below that of Faiq Bolkiah, with the talented footballer owning just $460 million.
Ronaldo is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, alongside his historical rival Lionel Messi. He is the first Portuguese footballer to win the Ballon d'Or five times and the second player after Messi to win the Golden Boot three times.
The third place at the top is occupied by Argentine Leo Messi, who has a fortune of $400 million.
Photo Credit: Facebook / - Faiq Bolkiah
