Football dominates the annual Sport Rich List for Britain and Ireland published by the Sunday Times yesterday. 48 of the top 100 are drawn from the game.
However, in terms of wealth, footballers make up only 40.4 per cent of the total of £1.22 billion. The number of footballers, managers and forner players is down from 58 when the list was first published at 48. Golf and motor sport tie for second place, each with twelve listings.
Football dominates the annual Sport Rich List for Britain and Ireland published by the Sunday Times yesterday. 48 of the top 100 are drawn from the game.
However, in terms of wealth, footballers make up only 40.4 per cent of the total of £1.22 billion. The number of footballers, managers and forner players is down from 58 when the list was first published at 48. Golf and motor sport tie for second place, each with twelve listings.
David Beckham once again tops the list with his wealth (and that of his wife) calculated at £160m, up 25 per cent at last year. However, the only other person connected with football in the top ten is Wigan owner Dave Whelan. He is spending his fortune, down £50m, on football rather than making it from the game. Last year he converted the £48m he has loaned Wigan into equity. Five of those in the top ten are connected with motor racing.
There are just three footballers in the next ten, Wayne Rooney (£45m, up 22 per cent), Rio Ferdinand (£40m) and Michael Owen (£39m), Not far behind are Alan Shearer (£35m), Sol Campbell (£24m) and Sir Alex Ferguson, the top ranked manager at £32m.
The report suggests that ‘The production line of footballers into the upper reaches of our wealth league shows no sign of slowing’. Of the 48 football millionaires, 13 are foreign-born players or managers.
Yaya Toure has a £200,000 a week deal with Manchester City. No doubt City fans think he is well worth it after his two vital goals at Newcastle yesterday. If Toure were a company director he would be the 14th highest-paid in the UK.