THE BILLIONAIRE'S CLUBThe key message from this year's rich list is this: British football is getting richer; and the rich are getting richer.
Investors with a staggering combined value of over £11billion have become involved in British football for the first time over the last twelve months.
Half of the top ten in FourFourTwo's latest Football Rich List are newcomers to football and reinforce the attraction of the English Premiership to multi-millionaire businessmen.
And eight of them qualify as BILLIONAIRES.
Only FOURTEEN players make the Top 100 despite the recent controversy sparked by a Government Minister's remarks about wages being 'obscene."
Two new players on the list are Chelsea's Didier Drogba, 29, who is Number 96 with a £14m fortune and Manchester United's Ronaldo, 22, who props up the list at Number 100 with a bank balance of £12.25m
Editor, Hugh Sleight, says: "Of 25 new entries this year -five in the Top Ten - only two are players, who now number just 14. So while their wages rise, their bank balances pale into insignificance compared to the men who pay them."
Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich, 41, is still way out in front with an estimated value of £10.8b and a £150m divorce settlement hardly made a dent in his fortune.
The newcomers are headed by another Russian, Alisher Usmanov, 54, whose personal fortune is said to be £2.76b and F1 Racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone, 77, said to be worth £2.5b and who took over struggling QPR with Renault team boss Flavio Briatore.
The other new entries are Mike Ashley, 42 at Newcastle United, Stanley Kroenke, 59 at Arsenal and Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft, 61 who bought 42% of Watford.
The new TOP TEN is:
1) Roman Abramovich, Chelsea - £10.8b
2) Joe Lewis , Tottenham Hotspur - £2.8b
3) Alisher Usmanov, Arsenal - £2.76b
4) Bernie Ecclestone, QPR - £2.5b
5) Mike Ashley, Newcastle United - £1.6b
6) Dermot Desmond, Celtic - £1.6b
7) Malcolm Glazer, Man Utd - £1.25b
8) Stanley Kroenke, Arsenal - £1.2b
9) Trevor Hemmings, Preston N.E. - £980m
10) Lord Ashcroft, Watford - £950m
Other high-profile new entries include Thaksin Shinawatra, 58, who has taken over Manchester City and has a personal fortune of £640m and said to be the 18th richest man in South East Asia. He is number 16.
American Tom Hicks, 61, who took over Liverpool with his friend George Gillett has a fortune of £500m and bought the Anfield club in a £220m deal pledging a new stadium at Stanley Park. Hicks is Number 21 and Gillett is Number 31.
The prestigious list, compiled by the magazine also lists the TOP TWENTY richest footballers just a week after Government Minister Gerry Sutcliffe hit out at the 'obscene; wages earned by Premiership footballers.
Only fourteen British players are well-heeled enough to break into the main Top 100 list still headed by David Beckham, whose valued is estimated at £112m but that only puts him in position No 45 in the Top 100
The Top Ten Players are:
1) David Beckham, 32, LA Galaxy - £112m
2) Michael Owen, 27, Newcastle Utd -£37m
3) Robbie Fowler, 32, Cardiff City -£30m
4) Wayne Rooney, 22, Man Utd -£30m
5) Sol Campbell, 33, Portsmouth -£28m
6) Andriy Shevchenko, 31, Chelsea - £25m
6) Rio Ferdinand, 29, Man Utd - £25m
8) Ryan Giggs, 33, Man Utd - £23m
9) Michael Ballack, 31, Chelsea - £18m
10) Steven Gerrard, 27, Liverpool -£15m
The Top Ten New Entries are:
Alisher Usmanov, Arsenal Number 3 - £2.76bn
Bernie Ecclestone, QPR Number 4 - £2.5bn
Mike Ashley, Newcastle Utd Number 5 - £1.6bn
Stanley Kroenke, Arsenal Number 8 - £1.2bn
Lord Ashcroft, Watford Number 10 -£950m
Michael Spencer, Ipswich Town Number 11 - £850m
Thaksin Shinawatra, Man City Number 16 - £640m
Bjorgolfor Gudmundsson, West Ham Number 18 -£593m
Tom Hicks, Liverpool Number 21 - £500m
Lord Harris, Arsenal Number 27 - £300m
FourFourTwo Editor, Hugh Sleight said: "Our list shows what a magnet the British Premiership and even clubs outside the Premiership have become to wealthy foreign businessmen. It remains a mystery why British businessmen do not seem as interested in investing in our clubs.
"While there is a current debate about the wages of players being too high this list proves beyond doubt that there is buckets full of money floating about in football and you have to spend big money to get the best and stand a chance of winning trophies."
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FourFourTwo.com