Faiq Bolkiah, Mathieu Flamini: 3 Footballers Reportedly Richer Than Messi and Ronaldo
- Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both confirmed billionaires, with Forbes placing their net worths at $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion respectively in 2026
- Three footballers, including a Brunei royal and a former Arsenal midfielder, have appeared in reports claiming fortunes that surpass those of the two superstars
- The billion-dollar figures attached to all three players come with serious caveats that cast doubt on the widely circulated estimates
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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are widely regarded as two of football's greatest earners, having built confirmed billion-dollar fortunes through wages, sponsorships and business ventures across their careers.
Yet a handful of other names have regularly appeared in reports claiming to sit above both icons on football's financial ladder.
Source: Getty Images
Three players have attracted the most attention in this debate: Faiq Bolkiah, Mathieu Flamini and Louis Saha.
From a prince who played for Chelsea's academy to a former France international who co-founded a green chemistry company, the claims are striking, and worth examining closely.
Forbes placed Ronaldo's net worth at $1.2 billion and Messi's at $1.1 billion as of September 2026, cementing their status among the sport's wealthiest individuals.
Here is what is actually known about each of their reported fortunes.
3 players reportedly richer than Messi and Ronaldo
1. Faiq Bolkiah: The Brunei Royal
Faiq Bolkiah is perhaps the most frequently cited name in discussions about footballers supposedly wealthier than Messi and Ronaldo.
He is the son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah and the nephew of Brunei's Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, whose family controls one of Asia's most recognised royal fortunes.
Sports Illustrated reported in September 2024 that Bolkiah's estimated net worth was around $20 billion, a figure that would comfortably exceed the wealth of both Messi and Ronaldo combined.
However, that number is not publicly verified and appears to draw heavily from his family's broader fortune rather than his personal holdings.
Bolkiah trained in the youth systems of Southampton, Chelsea and Leicester City before playing professionally in Thailand.
His footballing career has remained modest relative to his reported wealth.
2. Mathieu Flamini: The Green Chemistry Co-Founder
Former Arsenal and AC Milan midfielder Mathieu Flamini built a reputation as one of football's more entrepreneurial figures by co-founding GF Biochemicals, a company producing levulinic acid as an alternative to fossil fuel-derived products.
Some reports attributed tens of billions of euros to his name as a result, but Flamini himself pushed back on those figures.
In an interview with beIN SPORTS, he clarified that the widely shared €30 billion figure referred to the potential size of the market his company's technology could address, not his personal net worth or the company's valuation.
The distinction is significant: market opportunity and personal wealth are entirely separate measurements.
3. Louis Saha: The Premier League Veteran
Louis Saha, the French striker who represented Manchester United, Fulham and Everton among other clubs, has also featured on lists of football's wealthiest individuals.
Sports Illustrated, in the same September 2024 report, put his estimated net worth at approximately $5.7 billion, partly linked to his AxisStars platform connecting athletes, agents and brands.
As with the other figures, no publicly verified financial disclosures confirm that Saha personally holds billions of dollars in assets.
Are these footballers really richer than Messi and Ronaldo?
The honest answer is 'unverified' as Messi and Ronaldo's billionaire status rests on documented decades of elite earnings and commercial activity.
The fortunes attributed to Bolkiah, Flamini and Saha rely on royal family associations, misrepresented market data or unconfirmed estimates.
Until any of those figures are independently verified, Messi and Ronaldo remain football's most reliably confirmed billionaires.
Ronaldo tops list of highest-paid sport stars
Legit.ng previously reported about Ronaldo topping the list of the world’s highest-paid sports stars per sponsored Instagram post, with Messi in second place.
The gap between the football rivals is about $500,000 for every sponsored post, while cricket star Virat Kohli ranks third ahead of Neymar and LeBron James.
Source: Legit.ng
