Football, in many ways, is the most popular sport in the world. According to FIFA, the sport is practised by about a quarter of a billion people around the world, but they only count organised football. If we would also look at the number of people that kick a ball just for the fun of it; on streets, in fields or squares anywhere around the globe, for sure there would be more than a billion.
If we look at the top competitions in the world, the players are modern day gladiators that attract millions to their ‘arenas’ every week. Not to mention all those that watch from home or on a screen elsewhere. For that reason, football has grown into a colossal industry, generating billions in revenue.
Television rights for competitions alone are sold for staggering figures, with broadcasters willing to pay premium prices to secure exclusive coverage of the most popular events. Merchandising, sponsorships, and revenue in stadiums on matchdays further inflate the industry’s coffers. This financial influx has led to a situation where footballers are among the highest-paid athletes globally.
While such stardom comes with equally astronomical paychecks. Even an average pro-player can make more in a year than you will in your entire life. Top-tier stars will make millions, sometimes even per month!
Despite these mind-boggling sums, the concept of a football billionaire remains largely theoretical. First and foremost because people generally do not recognize how much a billion actually is. Most people can still grasp the concept of a million, a thousand times a thousand, but if you multiply that by a thousand one more time, the number becomes just too large to comprehend. You might have read that a million seconds is 12 days, and a billion is more than 31 years, but have you ever let that sink in?
Is it possible that a football player becomes a billionaire?
To be clear, there already is a billionaire football player, Faiq Bolkiah, often labelled the world’s richest footballer. With an estimated net worth of $20 billion, he’s a billionaire many times over. What club does this star play for? Ratchaburi Football Club, based in Ratchaburi province in Thailand.
So, as you might have guessed, this 26 year old is more of a billionaire who plays football, than a footballer that earned more than a billion with or thanks to football. Faiq is a prince of Brunei, and as those that are over 30 might remember, the Sultan of Brunei used to be the richest person in the world for many years. Faiq’s value on the transfer market has never exceeded €200k according to transfermarkt.com.
When we look at footballers that thank their wealth to the sport, even the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, and Beckham, arguably the greatest footballers of their generation, have yet to breach the billionaire barrier. Their earnings, though extraordinary by most standards, have ‘only’ brought them halfway to billionaire status. This underlines the exceptional financial heights a player must reach to join the billionaire club.
Enter Kylian Mbappé, a young French forward who’s also mentioned in iGamingNuts’ forecast for richest sports stars. His talent is undeniable, but it’s his earning potential that has sparked the most intense speculation. In 2023, Paris Saint-Germain reportedly offered him a ten-year contract worth a staggering $1.1 billion, a deal that would have made him the highest-paid athlete in history. While the move didn’t materialize, it served as a stark reminder of Mbappé’s immense commercial value.
More recently, Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal made a world-record bid of $772 million for a single season, a proposal that would have seen Mbappé earn an astonishing $25 every second of every day! To put that into perspective, he could walk into the most expensive restaurant, order the most expensive dishes, and when he walks out a few hours later, he’ll still be more wealthy than he was before! Such figures are almost beyond comprehension, representing a level of wealth previously unseen in sports.
Whether Mbappé can ultimately become the first ‘real’ football billionaire remains to be seen. His career is still in its prime, and there’s no doubt that his earning potential will continue to grow. However, the career of an athlete can abruptly take a turn for the worse, a life changing injury could be just one misstep or wrong tackle away.
Making money as a footballer is not only dependent on on-field performance. Although contracts stipulate many obligations that players have besides playing football, outside those obligations, players have ample opportunities to make money. Endorsement deals, commercial partnerships, and investments are common ways for players to supplement, or eventually replace, their income.
The global fame and influence athletes like Mbappé possess make them highly sought-after by brands, and Mbappé’s off-field appeal is crucial to his potential billionaire status.
Ultimately, becoming a football billionaire is a complex interplay of many factors. While Kylian Mbappé possesses the potential to achieve this extraordinary feat, the journey is far from guaranteed. The football landscape is constantly evolving, and new challenges and opportunities will emerge.