The whole world waits for every next football World Cup. Watch your favorite player and watch him play. Millions of fans are cheering for their favorite football club. As we look toward 2024, the financial landscape of sports continues to grow, with astronomical figures linked to player contracts, endorsements, and business ventures.
Extraordinary footballers are paid thousands, sometimes millions of dollars to play for various football clubs. However, some football player are richer than their peers. The king of sports is an industry that moves a lot of money and only the best have been able to amass fortunes with millions of dollars or so I thought 10 richest football players of 2024.
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Here Are The Top 10 Richest Football Players In 2024
10: Kevin De Bruyne
Apart from being one of the richest football players in the world and in the Premier League, he’s one of the wealthiest. Not for nothing, this 32-year-old Belgian has amassed millions through his talent and hard work. It’s not just about his huge monthly salary; De Bruyne is one of the most sought-after players in the European market and has attracted a bunch of sponsorships. That’s why he always wears Nike boots: for the millions in return. Plus, this Manchester City star has built an extensive property portfolio by investing in real estate in Belgium and England.
He owns luxury villas on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As if that weren’t enough, he has two houses designed by himself. Don’t forget about his high-end compact and sports cars: an Audi Q5, the Mercedes GLE Coupe, another Mercedes AMG G63, his elegant Ferrari 488, or his Rolls-Royce Ghost. It all depends on the occasion. Sure, he prefers to have a lavish life, and with a net worth of 60 million dollars, who doesn’t?
09: Karim Benzema
I’m talking about one of the most prolific forwards wearing the Real Madrid jersey and the current Golden Ball winner. This French soccer player has had so many successes that they’re reflected in his net worth of 70 million dollars. As you’ve heard, however, the amount is promised to increase since he has become the second-highest-paid soccer player in the world by accepting the offer of the Arab team Ali Tihad for 100 million euros each season and a bonus of 20 million euros. A drop in the ocean for them. Not everything comes from his soccer contracts, though; his sponsorships and several business ventures are also included.
Benzema has invested in NFTs like his colleagues Messi and Neymar and has created the KB-9 MetaClub, which is a platform that brings together a diverse community of lovers of soccer, training, fashion, video games, cars, and more. Quite an entrepreneur and visionary, he also generates income with his YouTube channel and has more than 560,000 subscribers who enjoy watching Benzema’s ostentatious life, his luxurious Spanish home, and his more than 12 high-end cars.
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08: Robert Lewandowski
After taking his football skills to the best teams in the world, Mr. Lewandowski, at 34, has managed to accumulate a huge 85 million dollars. His goals are worth money, literally. However, his sports contracts are only one source of his income because the Polish athlete has also been able to profit from his image and has sponsorship and advertising contracts with different firms and companies such as Nike, Huawei, and Procter & Gamble. But that’s not all.
Because he has wisely invested in his brand RL9, he sells biscuits, hazelnut cream, and coffee. Also, together with his partner, Anna Lewandowska, a prominent athlete from Poland, they run a nutritional food company called Foods by Ann. Unity is strength, right? The FC Barcelona attacker has bought residences in Germany, Spain, and other parts of Europe, as well as a fleet of luxury cars. Someone has money to burn.
07: Mohamed Salah
This is one of the most dangerous right-wingers in the world, one of the richest football players in Europe, and a key reference for Liverpool. His performance on the field backs him up, as does his net worth of 90 million dollars. The talent of this Egyptian star is not only admired by sports clubs that hire him with exorbitant wages but also by a long list of brands that want to sponsor him, such as Adidas, Vodafone Egypt, and other world-renowned companies, including Pepsi, Uber, and Oppo.
He’s in all fields because EA Sports also included him in its FIFA 18 video game, like every world soccer star. With so much money piling up in the bank, you might think he leads an extravagant life, but Salah has chosen to follow a modest lifestyle compared to his peers. Of course, the striker is fully committed to giving back to his people off the field, doing everything possible to build a hospital. He has his priorities.
06: Eden Hazard
Even though his career at Real Madrid has been intermittent, off the field, there are no problems for this Belgian star, not even financial ones. It turns out that he lives in a futuristic mansion that he bought from the Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz for 12.3 million dollars in a luxurious neighborhood of Madrid, Spain—an unattainable amount for you or me but quite affordable for him with his fortune of 100 million dollars.
With that money, Hazard has also become the owner of many other properties and a shareholder of the San Diego 1904 club that plays in the NASL in the United States. Cars are another of his passions, and he has a fleet that includes luxury brands such as BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. His sponsorship agreements with firms such as Nike, Beats, Lotus Bakeries, and the Tops Toy Company seem very profitable.
05: Kylian Mbappé
Winner of the World Cup with his French team, this Paris Saint-Germain forward has surprising statistics, and not only at the football level. Off the field, he can also boast incredible numbers, such as his enormous fortune of 150 million dollars. Whoa, what can you do with so much money? I don’t know about you, but Mbappé treats himself by living in one of the best areas of Paris in an 11-million-dollar property where he can appreciate the beauty of the Eiffel Tower.
That’s just for starters because, with his savings, he’s also bought luxury cars like Ferraris, Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, and Range Rovers. When his route is long, he rents a modern Challenger 350 corporate jet for seven thousand dollars an hour to travel the world—small treats he can afford with his wage and earnings from his sponsorship agreements with brands such as Nike, EA Sports, and Hublot.
04: Neymar
Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. is an icon of Brazilian soccer and one of the greatest in the game in the modern era, but he’s also one of the richest soccer players in the world, with a net worth of 200 million dollars. He has accumulated a figure thanks to his millionaire contracts with his clubs and his earnings off the field, estimated at 25 million dollars, mainly due to his sponsorships with Puma and Red Bull. He’s a money-making machine.
Don’t be surprised by the number of properties in his name: a mansion in Brazil, a residence in Paris, and another in Beverly Hills. Plus, an 8 million dollar yacht, an expensive helicopter he custom designed to look like the one Batman uses in the comics, and a sleek collection of exotic cars that includes brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin Vulcan, Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini. He does have exquisite taste and the means to satisfy his wins.
03: Cristiano Ronaldo
Now it’s time for the best soccer player of all time and the highest-paid in the world, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who, thanks to his long and successful sports career, has accumulated as many soccer accolades as he has millions of dollars in the bank. Just his last contract with the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr FC settled with a disproportionate figure of 207 million dollars per year. But that’s not all; his income is higher. His image is endorsed by brands like Nike, Herbalife, Livescore, Armani, Tag Heuer, Talabat, and Jacob & Co.
It doesn’t end there because he also has his own highly successful fashion brand called CR7 and has investments in the hotel sector with the Pestana CR7 Hotel chain. No wonder this elite athlete owns properties in Lisbon, Madeira, Turin, Madrid, and Manchester, as well as a luxury yacht, a private jet, and many car collections. And why not, if he has a net worth of 500 million dollars—a figure that can only be compared with the number of followers on his Instagram account: 594 million? I’m sure you follow him too.
02: Lionel Messi
We all agree this Argentine legend couldn’t be missing from this list because only his undeniable ability to create a game, together with his knack for scoring, is capable of achieving a net worth of 600 million dollars. His soccer skills are from another planet, and so is his bank account. However, let’s not overlook his portfolio of sponsors such as Adidas, Pepsi, Lay’s, Gatorade, Budweiser, and MasterCard, to name a few, because he earns around 60 million dollars a year just for lending them his image. That’s not all because “La Pulga” was not only a soccer star but also a savvy real estate and business investor.
He owns a mansion in Barcelona, another in Ibiza, two luxury apartments in Miami, and his beloved mansion in Rosario. Now, if we only talk about business, “La Pulga” is a member of the MIM hotels chain, which has four luxury hotels in Ibiza, Mallorca, and Bakira. Plus, he owns a clothing chain, the Messi Store, and in 2020, he created a technological investment, sports, and media startup. A winner in all fields, but if being the best soccer player in the world isn’t enough to be the richest, then who is?
01: Faiq Bolkiah
This is the American soccer player, nationalized Bruneian, Faiq Bolkiah, who, although little known at a sporting level, is curiously by far the wealthiest. This Thailand League midfielder has amassed a net worth of 20 billion dollars. Where does that huge amount of money come from? Well, it turns out that this 25-year-old is the son of the Prince of Brunei, Jeffrey Bolkiah, and the Sultan’s nephew, Hassan Al Bolkiah.
So, as part of the line of succession to the throne of that Asian nation, he inherits the family fortune. He stands out for living in dream mansions; his pet is a tiger, and he made headlines a few months ago because, in an interview, he acknowledged that he had been able to spend 38 million euros in a single month. To each their own. Can you imagine what you would do with only a million? Tell me in the comments.