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Soccer's richest of the rich
06/12/2006 20:00 - (SA)
London - American businessmen Malcolm Glazer and Randy Lerner are in the top 10 of British soccer's rich list, led by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
David Beckham is the richest player in the survey published on Wednesday by soccer magazine FourFourTwo.
The 31-year-old midfielder and his wife Victoria are worth 87 million pounds and ranked 34th overall. Endorsements have contributed to Beckham maintaining the top spot despite struggling to start for Spanish club Real Madrid and failing to get picked for England since relinquishing the captaincy when his side exited the World Cup earlier this year.
Abramovich, who took over Chelsea in 2004, is worth 10 billion pounds. The second-richest person is Tottenham's biggest shareholder, English businessman Joe Lewis, who is worth 2.1 billion.
Dermot Desmond, who is the biggest shareholder in Scottish champion Celtic, is ranked third with 1.25bn. Glazer, who owns National Football League team Tampa Bay Buccaneers and took over Manchester United in 2005, is fourth at 1.05bn - a figure taken from a recent rich list by Forbes magazine.
Lerner, who owns NFL's Cleveland Browns, is ranked seventh at 789m pounds after buying Aston Villa in September. His figure is also from Forbes.
Robbie Fowler is third
After Beckham on the players list is England and Newcastle striker Michael Owen, who is worth 32m and is in 53rd place overall. Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler is third, worth 28 m thanks to endorsements and property investments.
Rounding out the top 10 of the players list was Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell; Manchester United players Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs; Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko; Arsenal striker Thierry Henry; United striker Wayne Rooney; and Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack.
Other foreigners in the 100-strong list included Egyptian-born Fulham owner Mohamed al Fayed, who was ranked 13th. Tied for 13th were Hearts' Russian owner Vladimir Romanov and Latvian banker Valery Belokon, who invests in Blackpool.
Portsmouth owner Alexandre Gaydamak, a Russian-born Frenchman, is 31st; Sunderland's Irish manager Roy Keane is 63rd; and Jose Mourinho, Chelsea's Portuguese manager, is 69th.
Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is 87th and fellow Swede, Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljunberg, is 91st, while Gunners' French manager Arsene Wenger is 94th. Australia winger Harry Kewell, who plays for Liverpool, is tied for 96th with Chelsea's Ireland winger Damien Duff.
- SAPA
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