Manchester City Owner Passes Abramovich Atop Soccer Rich List
 |
Abramovich Slides To No. 3 On
FourFour Two's '09 Football Rich List |
English Premier League (EPL) club Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich has been "toppled from the summit" of the '09 Football Rich List by new EPL Club Manchester City Owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is estimated to be worth US$22.7B, according to the list published by FourFourTwo magazine. Abramovich "has lost [US$4.5B] in the recession and is now worth" $10.6B. The individuals on the list are worth $92.1B, and it "includes 11 billionaires and 25 new entries" (FOURFOURTWO.com, 1/6). Among players, MLS Galaxy MF David Beckham "continues to head the list with an estimated" US$189.2M (London TELEGRAPH, 1/7). Univ. of Liverpool Professor of Strategic Development Tom Cannon said of the economy's impact, "There's a lagged effect in football. The television deal, the season tickets -- those are already in place, but then you get the problem of renewals, not just on season tickets but on executive lounges. Season tickets numbers will probably be down by about 10[%], but renewals will be down by at least 15 or 20[%]. That's where the problems will be as you go down the divisions" (FOURFOURTWO.com, 1/6). The following lists the top 10 on the '09 Football Rich List (all figures U.S.) (FOURFOURTWO.com, 1/6).
|
RANK
|
INDIVIDUAL(S)
|
WEALTH
|
|
1
|
Manchester City Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
|
$22.7B
|
|
2
|
Queens Park Rangers stakeholder Lakshmi Mittal and family
|
$18.9B
|
|
3
|
Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich
|
$10.6B
|
|
4
|
Tottenham Hotspur Owner Joe Lewis |
$3.8B
|
|
5
|
Queens Park Rangers co-Owners Bernie & Slavica Ecclestone |
$3.6B
|
|
6
|
Arsenal investor Stan Kroenke |
$3.4B
|
|
7
|
Arsenal investor Alisher Usmanov |
$2.3B
|
|
8t
|
Everton investors Lord Grantchester and the Moores Family |
$1.8B
|
|
8t
|
Celtic shareholder Dermot Desmond |
$1.8B
|
|
10t
|
Watford shareholder Lord Ashcroft |
$1.7B
|
|
10t
|
Manchester United Owner Malcolm Glazer and family |
$1.7B
|
| NOTES: Queens Park Rangers and Watford play in the English Coca-Cola Championship League, while Celtic plays in the Scottish Premier League. All other clubs listed play in the EPL. |
WHAT'S IN A LIST? ESPN SOCCERNET's Phil Holland wrote, "Incredibly the rich list's top ten is comprised entirely of billionaires." But "for more galling is that while the Glazer family are sitting pretty on the list with a sumptuous family fortune, Manchester United have debts north of [US$755.9M] thanks to the complex loans the Glazers used to raise the funds to buy the club" in '05. Holland: "So what have we learnt? Well, just as the wealth of the owner of a club does not necessarily equate to that club's sporting success or spending power, so player wealth does not necessarily equate to ability, or indeed achievement" (ESPNSOCCERNET.com, 1/7).
|
