Leicester City can say they once had the world’s richest footballer on their books, despite him never playing a first team game.
Leicester pay their players very well, with Jamie Vardy reportedly the top earner at the club and most of these players will never have to work again when they retire.
But, even the likes of Vardy and Ricardo Pereira can’t compete with one former Leicester player, who is said to be worth a ridiculous amount that blows Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s net worth’s of £683m and £656m out of the water.
Who is the richest footballer in the world?
Most people would of course expect it to be Ronaldo or Messi, but the richest footballer in the world is actually none other than Faiq Bolkiah.
Bolkiah, 26, has earned his fortunes by being a member of the royal family in the country of Brunei. As a direct heir to the throne, Bolkiah is estimated to be worth an astonishing £16bn, according to Game, Set & Match.
Born in the USA, it is the winger who is the captain of Brunei’s national team and he can currently be found plying his trade in Thailand’s top flight with Ratchaburi.
It’s not just football too, with Bolkiah also the richest sportsman in the world with his closest competitor, Tiger Woods, still some £14bn off the 26-year-old with an estimated net worth of £1bn.
| Name | Net worth |
| Faiq Bolkiah | £16bn |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | £683m |
| Lionel Messi | £656m |
| David Beckham | £425m |
| Neymar | £270m |
| Kylian Mbappe | £193m |
| Dave Whelan | £162m |
| Karim Benzema | £154m |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic | £146m |
| Wayne Rooney | £131m |
When did Faiq Bolkiah play for Leicester City?
It’s a name that Leicester fans won’t remember too well but Bolkiah did actually used to play for the Foxes.
He never made an appearance at senior level but after time in Southampton, Chelsea and Arsenal’s academy, the winger signed a professional deal at the King Power Stadium in March 2016.
The Under 23s would be where he would spend the majority of his time and despite signing an extension in 2019, was released in the summer of 2020 where he would move to Portugal before eventually finding himself in the top flight of Thailand’s domestic football league.