The Sunday Times published its sports rich list today and 51 of the 100 on the list come from football – players, managers and former players. Collectively they are worth a cool £1.264bn. It should be noted that the list ignores ‘owners who buy clubs for personal gain or as an expensive hobby’ which means that the Glazers and Roman Abramovich do not appear.
The Sunday Times published its sports rich list today and 51 of the 100 on the list come from football – players, managers and former players. Collectively they are worth a cool £1.264bn. It should be noted that the list ignores ‘owners who buy clubs for personal gain or as an expensive hobby’ which means that the Glazers and Roman Abramovich do not appear.
It is worth noting, however, that although football occupies the first two places (Wigan owner Dave Whelan and David Beckham), they are the only two names from football in the top ten (strictly speaking, top eleven as there are three names at 9=). Seven of the names are from motor racing which is not to say that they derive their income from the sport, alhough former drivers and one current driver (Lewis Hamilton) are among the names.
David Beckham is estimated to be worth £135m, up 8 per cent last year and the report notes that ‘Astute management on and off the pitch keeps Beckham at the top of his game.’ Beckham Brand Limited made profits of £622,000 in 2009.
The next footballer on the list is Michael Owen, ranked 16th, a fall from 12th last year. He has been on a pay-as-you-play deal with Manchester United this year which expires at the end of the season. He has a deal with Umbro worth £2m a year and endorsement deals include Jaguar and Tissot, the watchmaker. His company Owen Promotions had assets of £7.1m in 2009-10.
Wayne Rooney’s wealth is up by just £4m this year placing him 17= with Fabio Capello. Rooney lost a £600,000-a-year sponsorship contract with Coca Cola and his enhanced wage deal is yet to be reflected in his bank balance. Rio Ferdinand is 19th and Sol Campbell and Aan Shearer are 20= along with Ryan Giggs who clearly has been as astute in his financial dealings as he has been in continuing as a top level player long after most of his contemporaries have hung up their boots.