Football rich list: The wealthiest club owners and highest-earning players

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - APRIL 09: Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF celebrates after scoring the team's first goal during the CONCACAF Champions Cup 2025 Quarter-final second leg match between Inter Miami CF and Los Angeles Football Club at Chase Stadium on April 09, 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images) Cristiano Ronaldo.

Money: it's a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash. New car, caviar, four star daydream... think I'll buy me a football team.

And sure enough, some of the world's richest people have followed Pink Floyd's blueprint to the letter, helping to make plenty of players extremely wealthy in the process.

But who comes out on top when it comes to owners and current players? It's vitally important that we all know.

We should put some caveats on this: the criteria do differ a bit by category, with some going on annual earnings while others are based on net worth.

Different outlets will carry different numbers for the same thing, as well.

A big old pinch of salt is required for all of these numbers as well - but look, it's just a bit of gawking fun as we enviously look through the windows of some of sport's biggest names.

Here's the footballing rich list…

Richest club owners

Mohammad Bin Salman is the chair of PIF, the owners of Newcastle United

Ooh, now, are we allowing institutions here or are we just talking about individual wealth?

For ease, let's include companies and public investment funds. You know, like the Saudi Public Investment Fund, owners of Newcastle United, with an estimated £696bn in assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

Red Bull are up there, too. As well as being majority owners of six clubs across the world - most notably RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls - the company also hold minority stakes in Leeds United and Paris FC.

Manchester City supremo Sheikh Mansour is generally accepted as a wealthiest individual. He himself is estimated to be worth around £22.6bn, with his family - the rulers of the United Arab Emirates - worth many, many times that.

Then there's the UK's seventh-richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, part-owner of Manchester United... despite the Sunday Times Rich List writing £6.5bn off his net worth this year.

1. PIF (Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Newcastle United) - £696bn
2. Sheikh Mansour (Bahia, Girona, Lommel, Manchester City, Melbourne City, Montevideo City Torque, Mumbai City, New York City, Palermo, Shenzhen Peng City, Troyes, Yokohama F. Marinos) - £22.6bn
3. Red Bull GmBH (Leeds United, FC Liefering, New York Red Bulls, Paris FC, RB Leipzig, TV Omiya Ardija, Red Bull Bragantino, Red Bull Salzburg) - £21.8bn
4. Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Manchester United) - £17bn
5. David Tepper (Charlotte FC) - £16bn

Richest current players

Cristiano Ronaldo's earnings dwarf those of Lionel Messi (Image credit: Getty Images)

InsiderMedia make Cristiano Ronaldo the highest-paid player in the world, with Forbes putting the Portuguese top of the list for all sportspeople across all disciplines with his earnings at a whopping £218m.

There's general agreement that Lionel Messi comes next in the list, with some argument then to be had as to whether Neymar or Karim Benzema comes in third. What is this, an early 2010s Ballon d'Or podium?

Then, of course, it's Kylian Mbappe, whose free transfer from PSG to Real Madrid last summer has catapulted him up the standings.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (£218m)
2. Lionel Messi (£103m)
3. Neymar (£84m)
4. Karim Benzema (£79m)
5. Kylian Mbappe (£69m)