Faiq Bolkiah: The Richest Footballer in the World
The Richest Footballer in the World is…
Not an obvious one.
In fact, this is the sort of trivial knowledge that you may need in a rather heated pub quiz, so make sure you take it in.
In June 2020, Cristiano Ronaldo was reported as the first footballer in history to record an astonishing $1bn in career earnings but he surprisingly isn’t classed as the richest footballer in the world.
So who is?
Step forward, former Leicester City and now Maritimo Madeira midfielder, Faiq Bolkiah, who has a net-worth of around $20bn.
Not only is Faiq the captain of the Brunei National Team, he’s also the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, making him a Prince.
Image via: @MaritimoMadeira on Twitter
The Footballer worth more than his club
Bolkiah, now 22-years-old, left Leicester City without playing a professional game for the club.
However, the Brunei captain is used to switching clubs, having been on the books of Southampton, Arsenal and Chelsea during his youth career, before eventually ending up at the King Power stadium where he played in The Foxes’ reserve teams for 4 years.
He now finds himself at Liga NOS side, CS Maritimo, who coincidently have a club worth of around £13m - spare change to Faiq Bolkiah and his mega rich family.
When I say spare change, I literally mean SPARE CHANGE.
Faiq Bolkiah’s father, Jefri Bolkiah, has no problem splashing the cash.
During his 15-year tenure as Head of the Brunei Investment Agency, he reportedly blew around £10billion.
It got to the point where he was said to be spending around £35m a month on cars, watches and erotic white gold pens (don’t ask).
That’s not all though.
In an attempt to celebrate his milestone 50th birthday and impress his 7-year-old son at the time, Faiq, he did something even crazier than purchasing erotic white gold pens.
That’s right, he flew in Michael Jackson and paid him a reported £12.5m to perform a private concert.
To make sure the “King of Pop” was catered for, he had a custom stadium built specifically for the occasion.
Now that’s how you impress.
The Prince that Plays Professional Football
It will come as no surprise that Faiq Bolkiah does not need to succeed in football in order to make ends meat.
He doesn’t have to play football, he wants to.
He’s not bad at the sport either.
Most recently he caught the attention of Wolves boss, Nuno Espirito Santo, who was reportedly interested in signing the Brunei captain.
That tells you enough about his attitude and ability.
Instead though, the determined 22-year-old is plying his trade with CS Maritimo Madeira - the original home of the second richest football player in the world and arguably the greatest player of all-time; Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the time of writing this, Faiq hasn’t yet made a professional appearance for the Madeira-based side.
However, if his career in football doesn’t go to plan, he’s always got the back-up option of settling for the sole title of ‘Prince of Brunei.’
Not a bad Plan B by any stretch of the imagination…
