Top 10 richest football club owners in the world revealed with Chelsea behind Hoffenheim and Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke seventh
FOOTBALL is now littered with billionaires who throw their money at the best players in the world.
Many of the wealthiest owners are well known for being in charge of the biggest and most successful clubs.
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However, there are also a number of unexpected individuals flying under the radar.
We dig deeper into the list of the top ten richest homeowners, published on Reddit, to see who exactly the biggest bankrollers in football are.
1) Sheikh Mansour – Manchester City
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Perhaps football’s most famous takeover, you won’t be surprised that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is the richest individual in the sport.
Since buying the club in 2008 for around £ 210million, the UAE Deputy Prime Minister has turned Man City into a European superpower.
The Sky Blues have won four Premier League titles in eight seasons and are closing in on a fifth in the 2020-21 campaign.
And City could win their very first Champions League after reaching the final this quarter where they face Chelsea.
2) Dietrich Mateschitz – RB Leipzig
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RB Leipzig owner Dietrich Mateschitz is best known for owning 49% of energy drink company Red Bull.
This lucrative financial venture has enabled him to become an extremely powerful man when it comes to Bundesliga football club RB Leipzig.
Having only been formed in 2009, it took them just over a decade to become an established Champions League team.
During the 2019-2020 season, the Mateschitz-led club reached the semi-finals of the first European competition, before being beaten by Paris Saint-Germain.
3) Andrea Agnelli – Juventus
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Andrea Agnelli became the fourth member of his family to take charge of Juventus in 2010 after his father, uncle and grandfather.
In the decade that followed, Juventus won nine Serie A titles in a row, dominating Italian football.
They also acquired Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, one of the biggest signings of the past decade.
However, despite Agnelli overseeing significant investments, Juventus have failed to win the Champions League since 1996 and have ceded the championship to Inter this season.
And they risk missing out on next Champions League season as they sit in fifth place in Serie A with just three games to go.
But they are in the Coppa Italia final where they will face Atalanta, with Juve looking to win the trophy after losing to Napoli in last year’s final.
4) Dietmar Hopp – Hoffenheim
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Dietmar Hopp, owner of Hoffenheim, is a German software engineer and entrepreneur.
Last year he was reported to be the eighth richest person in Germany and the 72nd in the world.
However, its financial might did not make the headlines in Europe like others did.
But that could be largely due to the fact that he was starting from a lower base, with Hoffenheim in third tier when he began his relationship with the club in the 1990s.
Massive investments brought them to the Bundesliga with two successive promotions in the 2000s and they even finished third in the 2017-18 campaign.
5) Roman Abramovich – Chelsea
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The most recognizable owner in the last 20 years of English football is arguably Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich.
Although he’s taken a step back in recent years, the Russian has been ubiquitous in his first decade at Stamford Bridge.
Abramovich took over from Chelsea in 2003 and won his first Premier League title in two years, with Jose Mourinho taking the title in his first season at the club.
Since then, the Blues have won four more titles and won the Champions League in 2012.
And the Blues could win a second European Cup as they face City in the final on May 29.
6) Philip Anschutz – LA Galaxy
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Philip Anschutz is a businessman with businesses in a number of different fields, but is currently the owner of LA Galaxy.
These include energy, railways, real estate, sports, newspapers, films, theaters, arenas and music.
He was one of the founding members of Major League Soccer and owned a number of teams outside of LA Galaxy.
Clubs he’s been involved with include Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, DC United, and the New York / New Jersey MetroStars.
7) Stan Kroenke – Arsenal
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Another fairly common name mentioned in English football.
Stan Kroenke, 73, is an American businessman who has gradually increased his control over the Gunners since he became manager in 2008.
He is not a particularly popular figure among Arsenal fans as their expectation of a first Premier League title since 2004 booms.
Such is their hatred for Kroenke, during a fan protest last month, supporters hung an effigy of him outside the Emirates.
In addition to the Gunners, Kroenke also owns a number of other sports teams, including the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. .
However, Kroenke may not be the owner of Arsenal any longer as Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is looking to buy the club.
8) Nasser Al-Khelaifi – Paris Saint-Germain
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Bizzarly, PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi started out as a tennis player and reached No.995 in the world, but he never won a major title.
Since his retirement in 2004, Al-Khelaifi has made a name for himself as one of the most powerful people in French football.
He also has a number of other notable projects including being chairman of beIN Media Group and vice chairman of the Asian Tennis Federation for West Asia.
Although PSG have won all the national trophies on offer in France, the Champions League continues to elude Ligue 1 players.
They were eliminated in the semi-finals at City where they were outclassed in both legs by Pep Guardiola’s men.
9) Zhang Jindong – Inter Milan
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Many may not have heard of Zhang Jindong, the man who led Inter Milan to their first Serie A title in 11 years this season.
Jindong is best known for being one of the founders and current major shareholder of the Chinese website Suning.com.
His son Zhang Kangyang is a member of Inter’s board of directors.
It has been a fantastic season at San Siro, with Antonio Conte’s side 13 points clear at the top with three games to go.
10) Robert Kraft – New England Revolution
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Robert Kraft will be famous among NFL fans as the owner of the supremely successful New England Patriots.
The Patriots have won six Super Bowls since 2002, led by quarterback Tom Brady but financially backed by Kraft.
In addition to his exploits in American football, the 79-year-old is also the owner of New England Revolution, an MLS franchise.
The team finished eighth in the MLS Eastern Conference in the 2020-2021 campaign.