I was very surprised when I saw fans of some musical acts argue about the worth of the artist, networth and the comparison with footballers. We’re comparing people who literarily beg fans to download and stream their songs to people who will be benched many times and still get paid in millions not naira but dollars either daily or weekly. I mean, they just vibe, train, flex on the bench or get injured (probably) and still get paid.
For instance an artist drops a single or body of work; run campaigns online, find a well to trend, post on every platform he has for fans and new fans but footballers on the other hand If they go through this I wonder how much they would get. Don’t get me wrong both the artist and footballer have to put in real work on/off studio and on/off the pitch to stay relevant.
Scratch that, some footballers are so irrelevant we just know they got signed to a particular club, they play for some time and poof (where’s he?) but yet money is piling up.
Let’s bring the fight back home with the top richest Nigerian footballers in no particular order, shall we?
John Obi Mikel
With a net worth of over ₦20 billion ($57 million) and salary of $6, million John Obi Mikel born in Jos, Nigeria, in 1987, began his football career when he was chosen for the Pepsi Football Academy at the age of 12 and went on to play for Nigeria at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships.
He started his international journey with Lyn football club after which he joined Chelsea where he spent 11 years before moving to Tianjin teda where he was paid N3.6 billion annually. After leaving the Chinese club Mikel has played for several clubs but currently play as a defensive midfielder for English club Stoke City FC.
Obafemi Martins
Obafemi Martins, born 1984 is one talent Nigeria and Nigerians are proud of, currently playing for the Chinese Super League side Wuhan Zall, Obafemi popularly known as “obagoal” is a man of speed. He has played for Inter Milan, Newcastle United Fc, Birmingham City FC (Arsenal fans will never forget his winning goal for Birmingham City FC)
Obafemi Martins at the 90,000 capacity Wembley stadium 10 years ago. https://t.co/HfUr0fR0fF pic.twitter.com/7nuQWkT6VR
— 𝕂𝕦𝕤𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕟 (@kusssman) March 2, 2021
According to Forbes, the net worth of Obafemi Martins is estimated to be over $40 Million.
Odion Ighalo
Odion Ighalo, the favored footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi club Al Shabab has a networth of over N8, 77,454,000 ($23 million) with salary of N60 million (£130,000) per week.
The favour over labour football star, played for Manchester United on loan from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua of the Chinese Super League before joining the Saudi Club in 2020.
Vincent Enyeama
Even as an independent player his current net worth is estimated to be about N10 billion. The Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper is Nigeria’s most capped player of all time.
He played for various clubs across Europe including French Club Lille, Sunderland AFC, and Tel Aviv.
Victor Moses
Moses Plays as a winger on either flank for Russian club Spartak Moscow on loan from Chelsea FC and has a net worth of around or over $25 million
He began his career in the Championship with Crystal Palace, after which he moved to Wigan Athletic, where he made his Premier League debut in 2010, he has also played in Wigan, and Stoke City FC
A very influential and talented player from Nigeria has being on loan from Chelsea to Liverpool, stoke city, West Ham United, then back to Chelsea after impressing Antonio Conte during preseason, back to being on loan to Fenerbahçe, inter Milan and currently to Spartak Moscow.
Ahmed Musa
He currently plays for Al-Nassr, where he earns a weekly salary of 60,000 pounds and an annual salary of 16.5 million Euros.
Ahmed Musa single handedly has helped the national team scale through on several occasions. He has played for Leicester City, CSKA Moscow and now for the Saudi club, Al-Nassr in the Saudi professional league.
The total net worth of young Ahmed Musa according to Forbes is about $18 Million. His time in England earned him $43,000, he currently earns a weekly salary of 60,000 pounds in the Saudi club
Kelechi Iheanacho- a whopping salary of 3.6 Million Euro (3.1 Million Pound) per year
Alex Iwobi-₦1.7 billion
Emmanuel Emenike-₦6.4 billion
oh and by the way, this isn’t the end of the list but let’s stop at this for now
