With news surrounding both the owners of Liverpool and Manchester United and their intentions to hand the clubs over to new shareholders, a collection of the world’s richest individuals and companies have already registered their interest.
Just yesterday, Britain’s wealthiest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who also entered the race to sign Chelsea last summer before Todd Boehly’s £4.25bn takeover, expressed serious interest in purchasing Manchester United from the want-away Glazer family.
Should the 75-year-old, childhood United fan be successful in his pursuit of the Red Devils, his net worth of around £32bn made through chemical company INEOS would place him firmly amongst the richest football club owners in the world.
Liverpool’s Fenway Sports Group are also reported to be increasingly likely to sell their majority share, and several notable candidates have been touted as possible future owners including PSG’s Qatar Sports Investment, as well as tech giants Apple.
With two of the sport’s biggest club owners listening to offers, we are taking a closer look at which current shareholders are the wealthiest across world football.
Top 5 Richest Football Club Owners
5. Philip Anschutz (LA Galaxy) – £8.1bn
We begin our list with American billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is listed as the 66th richest person in the United States according to Forbes.
The 83-year-old, aside from generating wealth initially from oil drilling before investing in real estate and stock, has had a huge effect on the advancement of football/soccer in the States after co-creating the MLS.
Although he founded a whole host of teams including Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire, he is the owner and original founder of LA Galaxy who are historically the most successful team in the league having claimed five titles.
He has his fingers in many sporting pies however – he is also the owner of NHL side Los Angeles Kings and a minority owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
4. Todd Boehly and Consortium (Chelsea) – £11bn
Perhaps the most talked about club owner in football at this moment in time, Todd Boehly manages to sneak into our list of the richest club owners with a reported £11bn in the bank.
Along with a consortium headed up by himself and Clearlake Capital, the American acquired Chelsea in May 2022 after sanctions imposed on former owner Roman Abramovich forced the Russian Oligarch to put the club up for sale.
A reminder of the money Todd Boehly has spent since becoming the owner. pic.twitter.com/RF8bQBP7kp
— Frank Khalid OBE (@FrankKhalidUK) January 17, 2023
Since the £4.25bn acquisition, Boehly has promised to inject a further £1.75bn which he has wasted no time in doing, splashing £400m in the transfer market in just over eight months on marquee signings such as Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and most recently Ukrainian prospect Mykhailo Mudryk.
His endeavours are not limited to Chelsea however – Boehly has a 20% stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a part owner of the Los Angeles Sparks, and also owns fantasy and sports betting company DraftKings.
3. Sheikh Mansour (Manchester City) – £17bn
Clocking in at number three is Sheikh Mansour, who has overseen one of the most successful acquisitions in football after purchasing Manchester City in 2008.
Although the club is under the ownership of British company City Football Group, the majority stake comes from the Abu Dhabi United Group which is an investment company for the nation’s royal family.
Sheikh Mansour, who is the deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi, is estimated to have a net worth of around £17bn, although his family is believed to be worth as much as £116bn.
Despite ethical concerns when the takeover was completed 15 years ago, their ownership have proven to be effective in the transfer window and as a result, their tenure has been a fruitful one after transforming a mid-table City side into six-time Premier League winners, and Champions League finalists.
2. Qatar Investment Authority (Paris Saint-Germain) – £300bn
PSG’s owners represent a monumental jump in wealth after the state-funded Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) acquired the Parisians through a subsidiary company, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), back in June 2011.
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, purchased 70% of the club’s shares and has since taken on further footballing projects such as the successful 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as well as owning a minority stake in Portuguese side Braga.
Since taking over in 2011, PSG have become the home of some of football’s elite stars including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
While the Emir only has a personal wealth of around £2bn (yes, only!), the Qatari royal family is estimated to be worth up to £300bn as a result of their control over oil and gas reserves, although their sporting endeavours have boosted the nation’s identity on a global scale.
1. Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (Newcastle United) – £320bn
The top two richest club owners follow a similar theme in that they are state-funded, this time by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund who took over at Newcastle in October 2021 for £305m, and in doing so transformed the Magpies into the wealthiest club in world football.
Despite fans quickly linking the likes of Kylian Mbappe with a move to Tyneside, the new collective headed up by day-to-day operator Amanda Staveley of PCP Capital have been astute in their ownership thus far, acquiring proven Premier League names such as Kieran Trippier while venturing further afield to claim some of football’s brightest stars in Bruno Guimaraes, and club record signing Alexander Isak.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and club chairman Mohammed bin Salman has a personal wealth of £25m, but the collective assets of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund are thought to be worth around £320bn, making them the richest owners in football.
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