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At first glance, it sounds incredible that such well-paid footballers can have financial problems these days. However, gambling, alcohol, drugs and expensive divorces can cause even the richest players to blow their fortunes and declare bankruptcy.
In the past, we could give similar examples with Johan Cruyff, who invested his fortune in an unprofitable business, so he had to play until quite serious football age to earn money again. Another striking example from the recent past is the Brazilian Adriano, who got drunk and spent all his savings on parties and alcohol, so that he now lives in one of Rio's slum suburbs.
Here are a few other top footballers who have the misfortune to go bankrupt:
10. Paul Merson
Of course this name will feature on our list. Merson was one of the best midfielders in English football in the 90's and even became a 2 time national champion with the Arsenal team. After that, he also played for Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Portsmouth and had 21 games for the national team of the "three lions". This would suggest he has built up a substantial sum in his bank account so he can live comfortably after retirement. Or not... Merson suddenly finds himself addicted to gambling, alcohol and drugs, so his fortune of around £7 million evaporates at extraordinary speed. He was also involved in a drunk driving accident. It was also the moment that changed his whole life. At the moment, Merson is appearing as a commentator on Sky Sports and has turned his back on his vices, but he himself has admitted that there was a time when he wanted to break his own fingers so he couldn't call his bookie.
9. Celestine Babayaro
Even before he became an adult, the defender became an Olympic champion with the Nigerian national team. Babayaro had a not bad career in the English Premier League with Chelsea and Newcastle, but constant injuries forced him to give up football relatively young. Despite the good money the defender was getting in England, he declared bankruptcy in 2011. It turned out that Babayaro had taken out a lot of loans and at one point his creditors just decided to file a lawsuit against him, which he lost. An English newspaper on the other hand picked up an interview from a neighbour of the former Nigerian international, who said Babayaro had no money to even maintain his house, which had started to fall into disrepair and decay.
8. David James
This in turn is one of the classic examples of why one shouldn't marry in haste. David James is one of the players with the most games in English Premier League history, and even held the record for the most dry nets until recently, before being overtaken by Petr Cech. The goalkeeper has played for teams such as Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and Portsmouth and his fortune is estimated to have totalled around £20 million. After divorcing his wife Tania in 2005, however, James lost almost everything as, as well as splitting his assets with her, he also had to pay a notoriously huge maintenance bill. He declared bankruptcy in 2014 and even had to sell hundreds of football items from his active career, including signed shirts, shorts and balls from legendary matches, as well as his custom-made Vauxhall Astra car and motorcycles. However, he is currently making a name for himself as a commentator and was even briefly the coach of the Indian Kerala Blasters, so it seems the former England international has found his feet.
7. Lee Hendrie
This is definitely far from the most famous player in the world, but then again, the former midfielder was a pretty important part of the Aston Villa team that won the Intertoto tournament and reached the FA Cup final in 2000. Hendry was even rewarded for his good play with a call-up to the England national team and played in one game against the Czech Republic. He was supposed to be earning good money with which to live a normal life, but once again it appears that fate has prepared a surprise. In 2012, he was declared bankrupt by the Royal Customs administrators in the High Court. We can only guess where Hendry has managed to spend it all, but his lavish living and poor investments in unlivable properties have caused him to lose around £10 million. As a consequence, he even attempted suicide twice. He is now a director of an organisation that runs football tournaments for children.
6.Eric Djemba-Djemba
The former Cameroonian international has a rather rich business card that strongly resembles that of Valery Bozhinov. During his career, he has played in countries such as France, Qatar, Denmark, Israel, India, Indonesia and Serbia, but his most memorable stint will be in the English Premier League with Manchester United. Djemba-Djemba was drafted in to play alongside Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and replace the departed captain Roy Keane, but perhaps needless to say he failed with a bang. Although he was far from impressive on the pitch, Eric liked to buy flashy things - sports cars and other expensive items. It was this that led to his bankruptcy in 2007, when he was just 26 and an Aston Villa player. The subsequent divorce and the support of his 4 children didn't help him in this tough financial situation either, so Djemba-Djemba had to travel all over the world to earn money in all sorts of leagues.
5.Brad Friedel
Quite an unpleasant turn of events for this much iconic American guard. Brad Friedel was one of the iron goalkeepers in the Premier League for about 18 years. He also holds the record for most consecutive games as a keeper - 310, while playing for the likes of Blackburn, Aston Villa and Tottenham. He made the league team of the season for 2002/03. Everything looked brilliant for him until he decided to open a free football academy in his home state of Ohio in 2007. It cost him nearly $10 million, and the organization is dedicated to training children and youth from age 12 up, who receive a full scholarship and live entirely at Friedel's expense. Since the academy has been unable to find a solid sponsor and the 2008 financial crisis literally ruined the U.S. economy, the goalie had to scrap his project in January 2011. That same month, he also declared bankruptcy because of the accumulating debts the academy was swallowing.
4. Keith Gillespie
When the Northern Irish winger came out of Manchester United's academy, many started drawing comparisons to another legendary player of the club from the same nationality - George Best. Unfortunately, Gillespie didn't prove to be good enough to play for the Red Devils' first team and left in the direction of Newcastle. He also wore the kit of Blackburn, Leicester and Sheffield United, but even before hanging up his cleats, Gillespie had to declare bankruptcy. The reason? He had blown his entire fortune, equivalent to around £7 million, on gambling. After he finally gave up the game in 2013, Gillespie released his autobiography, How Not to Be a Football Millionaire, in which he details his betting addiction. He also gives some good advice on improving your financial situation.
3. John Arne Riise
While most footballers go bankrupt after hanging up their cleats, the case of the European Cup winner is quite different. Riese had to declare bankruptcy in 2007 while still playing for Liverpool. However, the reason here was not alcohol, drugs, gambling etc, but even the £50k he was getting a week couldn't get rid of him. It turned out that he had a £100,000 debt to pay and was also involved in a serious £3 million fraud in his home country of Norway. The only positive here is that Reeze was still at a good footballing age and played many more years for Liverpool, Roma and Fulham, so was able to earn a good living and put his hard days behind him.
2. Diego Maradona
And if you think there will be a scandal that the "Hand of God" won't be involved in, you are sorely mistaken! The 1986 world champion, who is also one of the greatest players to ever set foot on the green field and who has 2 times bettered the record for the most expensive transfer in football history, was named one of the two best footballers of the 20th century, along with his great enemy Pele. Of course, Maradona's career and life have been constantly fraught with controversy and strife. After his huge problems with alcohol and drugs, Don Diego had to declare bankruptcy in 2009 after the Italian authorities revealed that he had to pay them taxes and fines in the order of 37 million euros. This sum had accumulated during his time at Napoli, so Maradona simply announced to the then director of the club that he had not informed him that he owed taxes. Pretty dumb excuse, but the Italian authorities still took €42,000, two watches and a pair of expensive earrings from him.
1. Ronaldinho
The sad fate of the bacroutes didn't pass the incredible Brazilian who was named the highest paid footballer of 2006, earning nearly $19 million from sponsorship deals alone. Ballon d'Or winner, world champion and European club champion, Ronaldinho certainly didn't look like someone who was going to have financial problems. So the man had achieved everything in football! And yet he had a thing for the nightlife, which pretty much diminished the best days of his career, and emptied his coffers. After hanging up the cleats, the carioca became embroiled in a number of scandals. In 2019, as many as 57 properties belonging to the player, as well as his passports, were seized because he had not paid his taxes, as well as a number of fines. His debts exceeded $1.5 million when he was fined for constructing a fishing platform in a protected area in Brazil. Ronaldinho and his brother failed to pay the sums, which caused them to lose their ability to travel abroad. Then the news swirled that the legendary player had just £5 in his bank account. When Ronny and his brother were arrested in 2020 for trying to enter Paraguay with fake passports, his former Barcelona teammates raised money to pay his bail and some of his debts...
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Welcome to sportstalk and glad another sports fan has found us. Please you need to supply sources for the images used plus also we do not allow Getty images to be used. This you just have to check an make sure. I noticed one immediately being John Arne Riise as Getty. 90% of football photographs are owned by Getty so you need to check.
Oh, sorry. I will remove the photos.