Football in Nigeria has developed in recent years with some Nigerians playing in different European countries, and earning a huge amount of money in salaries weekly. This is an article on the richest Nigerian footballers.
Playing football now goes beyond just fun as the sport has proven to be a very lucrative venture for stakeholders. Nowadays, lots of sponsors, businessmen, and lovers of the game pump millions of dollars into the game for profit or simply also for their satisfaction.
Football has the heart of many and it’s a common saying to “put your money where your heart is.”
Fans travel far and wide to watch their favourite teams play the game. Some fans are passionate enough to even go as far as shedding tears when their favourites lose a match.
It is no longer just a game for both the fans and the players and this has elevated the status of footballers from regular people to some of the most celebrated humans in the society.
Nigeria boasts of some of the richest football players in Africa and most of them do not hesitate in showing off their million-dollar assets.
Let us look at the richest Nigerian footballers in 2020, their net worth, and others.
Criteria for picking the richest Nigerian footballers
To find out who the richest footballers are in Nigeria in 2020, we took into account the players weekly pay, endorsements and media report.
Given the above criteria, you will definitely find that our selection of the top 10 richest footballers in Nigeria is fair and accurate based on available public information.
Read on to find the names of our top 10 richest footballers in the country.
A word of caution, we cannot verify all the figures quoted, where available, we quoted the source of income for the footballers on our list.
10. Alex Iwobi
Alexander Chuka Iwobi is a Nigerian professional footballer born on 3rd May 1996 and he made it to the list of richest footballers in Nigeria at number 10.
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Iwobi, who plays as a forward for Premier League club Everton and the Nigerian national team was also once an Arsenal player.
He was part of Arsene Wenger’s squad in Arsenal during his time at the club where he spent four years.
At Arsenal, he earned a weekly salary of €76,923 (about £68,661.80), according to Wfoot. He currently earns a weekly salary of £50,000 in Everton. Iwobi’s annual salary is £2.6 million according to Spotrac.
However, at the time of the Everton deal in the summer of 2018, The Sun reported that it was worth £70,000 per week for the Nigerian winger, which is substantially higher than the £50,000 figure reported by Spotrac.
Alex Iwobi’s cars and properties
Alex Iwobi acquired a property in Lagos, Nigeria. The exact location of the property is unknown but from pictures, it is a big house.
Out of Nigeria, Alex lives with his parents in England, which helps him to cut the costs of spending so much money on accommodation and which suggests that the footballer is very savvy with his money.
Read Also: Alex Iwobi Biography: Early life, Jay-Jay Okocha, net worth, club and country career & more
9. Kelechi Iheanacho
Kelechi Iheanacho makes it to the list of richest Nigerian footballers at number nine. He is also one of the youngest footballers on the list. He has had a good career so far.
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He played for Manchester City and is now playing for Leicester City in England.
Currently, Iheanacho earns a weekly salary of £115,000, according to multiple reports but Spotrac reports that Kelechi Iheanocho’s weekly salary is £60,000. During his two years in Manchester City, he earned a weekly salary of £85,000 pounds, making him one of the richest young footballers from Nigeria. However, Spotrac put his earnings during the 2016/2017 season, when the player was still a Manchester City member, at £2,600,000 (about £50,000 per week).
Iheanacho’s cars and properties
Iheanacho owns a big mansion in Manchester worth over (N8 million), and he is also currently building a big Mansion in Lagos state, Nigeria.
The Imo state born football star drives a Rolls Royce, BMW i8 worth NGN 12 million, a Mercedes C300 worth NGN 18 million, and a Range Rover too.
8. Victor Anichebe
Victor Anichebe played football as one of the finest strikers in England. He rose the ranks and went on to play in Asia and other parts of Europe in the later stages of his career.
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Victor Anichebe played in three different clubs in England including Everton. He was at Everton for nine years, West Bromwich Albion for three years, and spent just one year in Sunderland.
Playing in England as well as China helped Anichebe acquire a lot of wealth, which raised his ranking as one of the richest footballers in Nigeria.
He once dated one of billionaire Otedola’s daughters – DJ Cuppy. She lavished him with gifts and cars.
Victor Anichebe’s cars and properties
He drives a white Mercedes Benz G Wagon worth NGN42 million!
The former Everton striker built a mansion in his hometown. In 2017, he shared some pictures of the house when it was under construction on his social media pages.
7. Emmanuel Emenike
Emenike became quite famous after the 2013 African Nations Cup as a member of the. Nigerian Super Eagles.
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Emenike is married to Iheoma Nnadi, an ex-beauty queen. The couple tied the knot on 26 May 2018. They have two children together.
Emmanuel Emenike’s cars and properties
He is reported to own multi-million dollar luxury homes in Dubai, London, and of course his homeland, Nigeria.
He owns a NGN45 million custom-made Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and Range Rover Sport SUV.
6. Ahmed Musa
Ahmed Musa who plays in Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia was signed from Leicester city FC for about NGN8 billion. He deserves his place in this list of richest Nigerian footballers.
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His welcome video also has the highest number of views for any player in the club.
Ahmed Musa has been married twice. He was first married to Jamila Musa, with whom he had 2 children, but they got divorced over alleged domestic violence.
There were rumours that Ahmed Musa had been involved with Juliet Ejue, while still married to Jamila. And in 2017, after his divorce from Jamila, he got married to Juliet. In 2018, Juliet gave birth to a baby boy called Ibrahim.
Ahmed Musa’s cars and properties
Some of Ahmed Musa’s cars are Range Rover Sport ($50,000) which he bought in 2013, A Range Rover Velar ($60,500) which he bought in 2018, Mercedes Benz G-Wagon costing $127,650.
He owns a filling station in Kano state. He was brought up in Jos, Nigeria, so his first port of call was to build a mansion in his childhood city.
He moved out of the first mansion and built a new mansion with updated security gadgets and personnel. His mansion in Jos, includes a swimming pool, a gym, a mosque, a football field that has a synthetic pitch.
He also built a sports complex in Kano, which he spent N500 million on, as a gift to Kano Pillars football club where he played when he was younger.
See Also:Ahmed Musa leaves Liecester city and joins Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr on a 4-year deal
5. Victor Moses
Making it to number 5 on our list of the richest football players from Nigeria is Victor Moses
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The Nigerian winger was a key player in Antonio Conte’s Chelsea team and subsequently, at Inter Milan too. According to Spotrac, he earns a weekly salary of £75,000. He is believed to have retired from playing for the Nigerian Super Eagles senior team, however.
Victor Moses’ cars and properties
To his name, he owns some luxurious cars of fine taste. Some of his cars are;
Mercedes Benz AMG G63 valued at 135,000 pounds (N66, 586, 860), Aston Martin valued at $146,000 (N56, 573, 540). Ford Edge valued at $35,000 (N13, 562,150), BMW i8 valued at $165,000 ($63, 935, 850), Ferrari 458 Italia valued at $365,000 (N141,433,850), N15 million Range Rover Sport, a Maserati and Mercedes Benz G Wagon worth NGN42 million.
He is also the owner of a six-bedroom house in Lekki, Lagos, worth N250 million. The house has three floors, a swimming pool, and a penthouse cinema and is also secured with the latest security technology
4. Vincent Enyeama
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Vincent Enyeama is one of the most capped Nigerian players ever and also the oldest Nigerian player in top-flight football.
He currently plays with Lille FC of France and was once captain of the Nigerian senior national team until 2015 when he had a fall out with the then Nigerian first-team coach.
He is married to his wife, Promise Enyeama and the duo tied the knot in June 2006. The couple has three children together.
Vincent Enyeama’s Cars and properties
He is the proud owner of a Mercedes Benz G-class coupe worth N25 million, and also a Range Rover Evoque worth $50,000 (N19.4 million).
He also owns a mansion in Lagos, Nigeria where he resides with his family.
3. Odion Ighalo
Odion Ighalo started making a name in the football scene with Watford FC of England, where he steadily rose in rank as one of the richest Nigerian footballers.
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He later went on to sign for a top-flight Chinese football club, Changchun Yatai, for £20 million pounds – about 9 billion naira.
That didn’t only make him one of the most expensive Nigerian players but also the highest-paid. The deal with the club comes with a whopping 4.8 billion naira annual salary.
Recently, Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo made history by becoming the first Nigerian player to play for Manchester United.
Ighalo, who was born on 16 June 1989, is on loan to Manchester United from Greenland Shenhua of the Chinese Super League.
Net worth
Ighalo is worth NGN 8, 77,454,000 ($23 million). He receives NGN 60 million weekly
Odion Ighalo’s cars and properties
Ighalo has not been spotted with too many cars, but he is associated with being the owner of a White Range Rover Velar, worth N50 million, and a Mercedes Benz G-wagon.
Odion Ighalo in December 2018 built a mansion located in the luxurious side of Lekki, Lagos.
After he built and opened the house, he invited popular Nigerian photographer, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, to help document his success.
Read Also:#EndSARS: Nigerian footballers John Ogu and Odion Ighalo condemn the government
2. Obafemi Martin
Obafemi Martins was once Nigeria’s fastest player and a goal-scoring menace to opponents. This earned him the nickname Obagoal.
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He began his football career with AC Milan where he scored a lot of goals before he moved to England.
He has retired from the Nigerian Super Eagles, but still plies his trade in China with first league side, Shanghai Shenhua.
He is married with kids and earns over 2.4 billion naira yearly with the Chinese club. He also makes money from endorsements and businesses in Nigeria.
Obafemi Martins cars and properties
Obagoal drives a NGN65 million Ferrari Lusso, a BMW X6, a Porsche Gemballa, Mercedes Benz Mclaren and a NGN115 million Lamborghini Gallardo.
Apart from his fleet of expensive cars, he has a yacht to his name. He is the owner of an Iguana 31 Expedition yacht costing over NGN170 million.
He owns two mansions located overseas and in Nigeria. One of which is located at VGC, Lekki, Lagos valued at NGN500 Million, and the other at Como, Italy valued at NGN800 Million.
See Also: Obafemi Martins celebrates son Kendrick on his birthday
1. John Obi Mikel
John Obi Mikel is the richest footballer in Nigeria. He was named the Super Eagles captain after Vincent Enyeama’s retirement from international football.
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Before then, he had earned about a billion naira annually playing for Chelsea football club in England.
He later moved to Tianjin Teda, a Chinese club that offered him over twice his Chelsea take-home pay.
Currently earning over 3.6 billion naira a year, John Mikel Obi is the richest footballer in Nigeria to date.
The 32-year-old midfielder is engaged to the daughter of a Russian oil magnate, Olga, and they have beautiful twin daughters together.
Endorsements
He is a brand ambassador for Amstel Malta where he allegedly earned N800 million, alongside Nollywood star actress, Genevieve Nnaji.
Before signing with Amstel Malta, he was a brand ambassador for Peak Milk and his deal then was worth N20 million. His endorsement deal with Peak Milk lasted two years.
Mikel Obi’s cars and properties
He owns the 2012 Mercedes Benz E-Class priced at $75,000 (N27.3 million), a Range Rover Sport valued at $60,895 (N43.6 million), a 2010 Bentley Continental GT valued at $180,000 (N82 Million), a rumoured Rolls Royce and a Mercedes-Benz G500 valued at N43.6 Million
Although Mikel lives in London with his family, he owns houses in Nigeria.
Read Also: Mikel Obi Biography: Club & international football career, net worth, family & more
Conclusion
Did your favourite players make the list, and who are you surprised didn’t make the list? Share your reaction in the comment section and don’t forget to share the post with your friends as well.
Emenike get money oh
Millionaires in dollars doing what they love. The best.
So mikel get money pass martins