10 Richest Club Owners In World Football 2021

Who are the richest football club owners in the world?

The beautiful game of football is one of the richest and most followed sports in the world, boasting several different high-powered leagues with worldwide markets. This has epitomized greatly and significantly shifted with the increased money-bag incentives on offer – the type of club owners at the world’s top clubs.

Gone are the old years when club owners and presidents were largely undiscussed figures who acted as mere custodians, the philosophy being that the club ultimately belonged to its club fans.

Today, football is awash with a breed of mega-rich entrepreneurial owners who tend to fall into two main categories – those who want to make themselves even richer through football, or those who are so ludicrously wealthy that they want a project to lavish finance on.

And as such, when it comes to transfers, there are several mega-rich club owners who can splash their cash and lure the biggest and the best players in the world to their various club sides.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world, and not sparring football, the owners of these clubs have managed to remain largely unaffected by the pandemic

Let’s Take A Look At 10 Richest Club Owners In Football

• 10. Robert Kraft – New England Revolution, MLS – $6.9 billion

Kraft may not be popular in Europe, but he’s undoubtedly a bigwig in the NFL and the MLS.

The American billionaire businessman has been a fan of the NFL side New England Patriots since the 70s before he founded New England Revolution Football Club in 1996 and he’s been the only financier ever since.

Under his watch, The Patriots have won six Super Bowls since 2002 while his New England Revolution side has been a force to reckon with in the Eastern Conference of the MLS.

New England Revolution finished eighth in the Eastern Conference of the MLS in the 2020-21 campaign, while Kraft, who owns the club is the tenth richest club owner in the world as of now.

• 9. Zhang Jindong – Inter, Serie A – $8 billion

Here’s the Chinese man who looks set to deliver Inter’s first SerieA title in eleven years in the ongoing season.

Zhang is best known as the founder and the current largest shareholder of Suning Holdings Group through which he purchased the largest existing shares of 68.55% at Inter Milan in 2016.

And for the short time he’s been there, his team has become competitive again on the homefront and in Europe. His son, Zhang Kangyang is reportedly on the Inter Milan administrative board.

• 8. Nasser Al-Khelaifi – PSG, Ligue 1 – $8 billion

Khelafi funded the record signing of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG in 2017. The former tennis player is also the Qatar Tennis Federation President and the President for the Asian Tennis Association for West Asia landed at PSG in 2011.

It’s safe to say that the five-year plan he mapped out to take PSG to the next level on the homefront and in Europe has become a reality given PSG’s exploits since he became the President.

The Paris Clubside has bagged seven Ligue1 titles, five French Cups, Six French League Cups and eight Trophée des Champions Cups since Khelafi’s arrival.

The holy grail, however, has been the Champions League which they emerged runners up last season. Meanwhile, they have a leg in the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League following their 1 – 4 thrashing of Barcelona at the Camp Nou last February.

Will they win the UCL this season? This question will be answered in the coming months.

READ ALSO: 8 Worst Club Owners & President In Football

• 7. Stan Kroenke – Arsenal/ Colorado Rapid, Premier League/MLS -$8.3 billion

The Arsenal owner occupies the seventh spot in the world currently. He’s another popular American billionaire who has other ventures that rakes-in billions of dollars for him aside from football.

The 73-year-old may have been loathed by some set of Arsenal fans on the basis that he’s got no clear vision for the club as their search for the first EPL title since 2004 continues.

However, he’s been impactful in his control of Arsenal since he landed at the North London club in 2008, but he’s taking things slowly.

Kroenke also owns a number of other sports teams which include the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer aside from Arsenal in the Premier League.

• 6. Philip Anschutz – LA Galaxy, MLS – $10.1 billion

Philip Anschutz is an American businessman who runs other businesses which contribute monumentally to the American Economy. These include energy, railroads, petroleum business, real estate, sports, newspapers, movies, theatres, arenas and music. But his major firm is the LA Galaxy Football Club.

The 81-year-old is very respected and influential in the American nation. Anschutz was one of the founding members of Major League Soccer in 1996 and has owned a number of other club sides aside LA Galaxy.

Clubs he has been involved with include Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, D.C. United, and the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.

• 5. Roman Abramovich – Chelsea, Premier League – $12.5 billion

Abramovich, a Russian, is no doubt the most popular and recognized club owner since the early 2000s, which is largely due to his touch of gold on Chelsea.

The politician took over at Chelsea in 2003 and bagged his first Premier League title in 2005 after he appointed Jose Mourinho as the manager. The Blues have gone on to win four more League titles, one UEFA Champions League and two UEFA Europa League titles.

The reason a section of Chelsea fans believes that The West London side has been the most successful English club since the 2000s is simply because of the ebullient Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman and politician, Roman Abramovich.

• 4. Dietmar Hopp – Hoffenheim, Bundesliga – $18.5 billion

Dietmar Hopp is a former football player who played for Hoffenheim as a teenager but now a software engineer and entrepreneur. The 80-year-old computer genius was reported to be the eighth richest person in Germany and seventy-second in the world last year.

Unlike some billionaires mentioned above, Hopp’s financial prowess hasn’t become popular simply because he’s started the football business with a lower-based club side longer before now.

When Hopp became the chief financial backer of the German football club in 1990, TSG Hoffenheim was a club playing in the lowest tiers of the German Football League. But with his presence, the club became a major force right from the early 2000s.

The rest is history today, Hoffenheim is no longer minnows in German football. The club finished third in the 2017/2018 Bundesliga season and have also been consistent in the UEFA Europa League.

• Andrea Agnelli – Juventus, Serie A – $19.1 billion

Andrea Agnelli is the current chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), which arguably makes him the most powerful man in club football.

The Italian businessman has been around at Juventus since 2010; becoming the fourth member of his family to take charge of the Bianconeri after his dad, granddad and uncle.

Juventus has hegemonized Italian football in Agnelli’s eleven-year reign, winning the SerieA title for nine consecutive years.

Like Paris Saint Germain, Agnelli has bankrolled Juventus massively in transfer markets, with the biggest of them being the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018. But despite that, the much-coveted UEFA Champions League has been eluding them since they last won it in 1996.

For how long would Agnelli and Juventus wait?

READ ALSO: 10 Of The Most Followed Clubs On Social media

• 2.Dietrich Mateschitz – RB Leipzig/ Red Bull Salzburg, German Bundesliga/Austrian Bundesliga – $26.9 billion

Did you know? Dietrich Mateschitz narrowly missed out on being named as the richest man in club football.

Mateschitz is an Austrian billionaire, famous for being the co-founder and 49% owner of Red Bull energy drink company.

Aside from owning football clubs, Mateschitz also owns the Formula 1 side, Red Bull Racing.

His football clubs are not doing badly as well; Red Bull Salzburg is arguably the best and biggest club in Austrian football, while RB Leipzig, having been established in 2009 has become a popular name and brand in the German Bundesliga and Europe.

In the Covid-19 ravaged 2019/2020 season, the Mateschitz-led club reached the semi-finals of Europe’s premier competition, before being beaten by Paris Saint-Germain.

• 1 Sheikh Mansour- Manchester City, Premier League – $30 billion

It’s unsurprising that Sheikh Mansour, Emirati politician and the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates is the richest football club owner given his famous takeover at Manchester City in 2008.

Since Mansour bought Manchester City, the club has recorded huge success domestically. Winning four Premier League titles, their first league titles since 1968, been runners up on three further occasions and won two FA Cups and five League Cups.

They look to have a hand on the fifth Premier League title as they sit at the summit of the current season with fifteen points ahead of their local rivals, Manchester United.

However, the UEFA Champions League remains Mansour and Cityzens’ ultimate goal.