Top earners in Nigeria’s football circle
The saying that ‘football is a beautiful game’ is best validated by the level of interest the game commands. But how will that interest be generated without the skills of the men who play the game? Football is fun and rewarding- maybe for satisfying the pleasure of fans but that is not the focal point of this article. Football is one of the richest sport in the world today, and while many are reaping huge dividend from football marketing and probably bets, those at the forefront (that is, the star players) are making a fortune from the game of soccer.
The likes of Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi are just some football stars who are earning big from the sport as a result of their talents. Let us however bring it closer to our own by looking at Nigerian stars who are top earners in the round leather game.
Odion Ighalo
Leading the pack is Odion Ighalo who currently plays for Changchun Yatai in the Chinese Super League. The ex-Watford smiles home with a whopping £200,000 every week- a billionaire in his own right back at home in Nigeria.
Mikel Obi
Mikel plays for Tianjin Teda and turning out for his Chinese employer brings him a fortune of £140,000 weekly. The highly experienced midfielder has always been among the highest paid Nigerian players while he was in Europe, playing for Chelsea FC.
Obafemi Martins
Martins might have been left out of the national team’s set-up for a long time now but that has not stop the cash from streaming in. He features for Shanghai Greenland Shenhua and earns £100,000 on a weekly basis for his services.
Victor Moses
Talk about reward for hardwork and perseverance; Moses’ improved contract at Chelsea FC sees his bank account ‘swelling’ by £75,000 on a weekly basis.
Kelechi Iheanacho
Now into Europe where we have Nigerian forward, Kelechi Iheanacho who plays for Leicester City in the English Premiership earning £70,000 weekly.
Ahmed Musa
Ahmed Musa’s pay packet at Leicester City sees him earning £60,000 on a weekly basis. Musa has however secured a loan move to his former club, CSKA Moscow on the final day of the winter transfer window.
Brown Ideye
China has proved to be the land of great harvest for Nigerian players and Brown Ideye- who teamed with John Mikel Obi about a year ago- is one of the reapers. He earns £60,000 playing for the Chinese side. Ideye has since moved to Malaga on a six-month loan.
Wilfred Ndidi
Tenacious Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi has at one point talked about how tough life was for him as an aspiring footballer but that belongs to the history books now as the young midfielder takes home £50,000 for the Foxes.
Alex Iwobi
Arsenal winger, Alex Iwobi is among the top ten earners in the Nigerian football circle; he gets a weekly wage of £30,000 for his services- maybe not very massive but it will surely rise in coming years.
Vincent Enyeama
Veteran goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama may be out of favour at Lille but that is currently ‘not causing any harm’ to his purse as he earns £30,000 every week.