Top 10 Richest African Football Players

Africa is indeed a blessed continent filled with great talents and minds in every sector including football and Sport in general. Most African footballers, who play for big teams, are paid immensely for the great work they do on the field of play.

African footballers are doing well in Europe. Countries that initially did not have players shining in top leagues are now cheering their own.

West Africa has produced the highest number of stars and we can all agree they have represented the continent well. That particular figure transforms to wealth accumulation in the region. Many stars in the top ten richest footballers also hail from the western side of our great continent.

African footballers are among the highest earners in the world of football.

When talking about the top ten richest African footballers and their net worth, we should note that the salary from the games, the prize money they get, or the amounts they receive from their endorsement deals, is not thousands of dollars but millions and millions of dollars.

READ ALSO; Richest Men in Africa & The Cars They Drive (2021)

Read also; How Aliko Dangote Became the Richest African

Now, who are the richest footballers in Africa? Here is a comprehensive list.

1. Samuel Eto’o Net Worth – $95 million

• Date of birth: March 10, 1981
• Nationality: Cameroonian
• Current club: He plays for Qatar SC before his retirement
• Role-playing: striker
• Transfer worth: free transfer
• Estimated net worth :$95million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: As the most decorated African player of all time, he is a four-time winner of the African Player of the Year award – 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010. Among other records, Eto’o retires as Cameroon’s all-time top scorer
• Current goals: 426goals
• The clubs include Real Madrid, Espanyol, Leganes, Mallorca, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Anzhi Makhachkala, Everton, Sampdoria, and Antalyaspor.

Eto’o rides the world’s most expensive car – A Bugatti Veyron and stands the only African footballer who actually owns one.

Among the fleet, you can definitely find a Ferrari, a Bentley,  Lamborghini, a hummer jeep, a Porch and a family bus.

2. Didier Yves Drogba Net Worth – $90 million

• Date of birth: March 11, 1978
• Nationality: Ivorian
• Current club: Retired
• Role-playing: Striker
• Transfer worth: April 12, 2017, Arizona United
• Estimated net worth :$90 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: Ten trophies for Chelsea and Galatasaray (4 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 2 Community Shields, 1 Champions League, and 1 Turkish Super Cup) African Footballer of the Year, Ivory Coast Player of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year, BBC African Footballer of the Year, amongst others.
• Current goals: 284goals

Drogba is very wealthy and currently number 2 on our list of top 10 richest footballers in Africa with an estimated net worth of $90 million.

Drogba has worked with some of the world’s largest brands which include, Samsung, Pepsi, Adidas, Nike, and Konami.

In 2006, Didier Drogba captained the national team of Ivory Coast from 2006 until his retirement from the Ivory Coast national team in 2014.

3. Mohamed Salah Net Worth – $90 million

• Date of birth: June 15, 1992
• Nationality:  Egyptian
• Current club: Liverpool FC
• Role-playing: Forward
• Transfer worth: £36.5m
• Estimated net worth: $70 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: Over the years, Salah has been crowned the PFA Player of the year 2018, African Player of the Year 2018/2019, CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year 2012, Premier League Player of the Month 2018,2019, FWA Footballer of the Year 2018, Premier League Golden Boot 2017,2019, BBC African Footballer of the Year 2017, and many more.

Mohamed Salah, popularly known as Mo Salah is no doubt one of the most popular African players.

Born in Egypt on June 15, 1992, Salah who is academically endowed chose to follow his dream to becoming a professional football player.

Mohamed Salah is becoming one of the world’s greatest forwards who plays as a striker for Liverpool FC of the English Premier League – one of the best football leagues in the world. He also plays for the Egyptian National Team.

His net worth of $70 million proves he’s a successful player as he earns an enormous weekly salary and has endorsements with top brands like Adidas, Falken Tyres, Uber, etc.

4. Yaya Toure Net Worth – $70 million:

• Date of birth: May 13, 1983
• Nationality: Ivorian
• Current club: Qingdao Huanghai
• Role-playing: Midfielder
• Transfer worth: July 3, 2019
• Estimated net worth :$70 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards:  Yaya has won the African Footballer of the Year award four times, and twice won the BBC African Footballer of the Year award, voted for by the public. He has also been voted into the PFA Team of the Year twice.

Yaya Touré was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Manchester paid him £250,000 per week and he got $21.7 million from his endorsements.

Forbes estimates his personal investment as $46.4 million and in total his net worth is estimated to be $70 million and this has made him be one of the richest footballers in Africa.

Yaya Toure has been a fan of luxurious cars and mansions. Earlier he was having Porsche 911, Mercedes Benz, Bentley Continental GT, Porsche Cayenne.

Recently, this wealthy African footballer has got himself the lavish Rolls Royce Phantom, worth £350,000.

5. John Mikel Obi Net Worth – $60 million

• Date of birth: April 22, 1987
• Nationality:  Nigerian
• Current club: Trabzonspor
• Role-playing: Midfielder
• Transfer worth: free transfer July 1, 2019
• Estimated net worth: $60 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: He has a total of 10 major winners’ medals all at Chelsea: 2 Premier League 2009–10, 2014–15,4 FA Cup 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12,2 Capital One Cup 2006–07, 2014-15, 1 UEFA Champions League2011–12, 1 UEFA Europa League 2012–13. Mikel also won the African Cup of Nations in 2013.

John Mikel Obi is very wealthy and currently number 4 on our list of top 10 richest footballers in Africa with an estimated net worth of $50 million.

While this professional footballer is a former player, he represented Nigeria in many championships. He takes the top spot on the list of the top 15 richest footballers in Nigeria.

He was born John Michael Nchekwube Obinna but as a result of a mistake in his name submitted by the Nigerian Football Association in 2013 to FIFA for a tournament in Finland, his name was changed to “Mikel” which he has since stuck with.

He’s no doubt one of the richest footballers in Africa has featured for top English Premier League side Chelsea and Lyn Oslo In Norway. His contract at Tianjin Teda fetched him 140 thousand pounds weekly.

Mikel Obi’s house and cars are really impressive and expensive.

He also has extremely expensive cars such as, for example, Bentley Continental GT (it costs about N35m), expensive Mercedes G Wagon (#81 million) luxurious Range Rover Sport, (#43million) and Black Mercedes G 500. 

Obi Mikel not only makes a lot of cash playing football but also from his endorsements like Pepsi and Samsung.

6. Emmanuel Adebayor Net Worth – $45 million

• Date of birth: Feb 26, 1984
• Nationality: Nigerian/ Togolese
• Current club: Without a club
• Role-playing: Striker
• Transfer worth: In 2017, the superstar joined the Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir on an 18-month deal which is expected to earn him around £50,000-a-week or £2.6million a year after tax.
• Estimated net worth :$45 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: Adebayor was picked by CAF for the 2008 African Football of the Year on 10 February 2009 at an awards ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria. He was the first Togolese to win the African Football of the Year.

This popular footballer is another richest player who originates from Nigeria and is well known all over the world.

He played for Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs and Crystal Palace in English Premier League.

This  professional footballer Adebayor hasn’t just benefited much from his lucrative football career, but also from the numerous contracts with most of England’s richest clubsr.

While at Manchester City the striker earned a reported $268,000 a week and by 2015, he has an estimated net worth of $45million.

He lives an extravagant lifestyle with multiple mansions, super-cars, and high-flying private jets.

7Seydou Keita Net Worth – $43 million

• Date of birth: January 16, 1980
• Nationality: Mali
• Current club: Retired
• Role-playing: Midfielder
• Transfer worth: El jaish August 19, 2016, on a free transfer
• Estimated net worth: $51 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: He received the golden ball as the best player of the tournament at the 1999 Fifa U-20 world cup.With a total of 12 major winners’ medals including 2 Champions League winners.

Here is another outstanding and wealthy African footballer whose net worth is $51 million.

Seydou Keita is a versatile footballer who can play both as a central midfielder and a defensive midfielder on the football field.

His professional football career started when he was 17. He represented his country, Mali at the age of 20 and he appeared in the seventh African Cup of Nations tournaments.

Keita made his debut in 2000 for Mali at the FIFA World Cup Qualifier.

In 2012, he joined the Chinese Super League Club FC Dalian Aerbin where he is paid €14 million per year.

He is blessed with many mansions, luxurious cars worth millions of dollars, and other assets.

8.Michael Essien Net Worth – $35 million

• Date of birth:3rd December 1983
• Nationality: Ghanaian
• Current club: Fk Sabail
• Role-playing: Midfielder
• Transfer worth: Fk Sabail March 16, 2019
• Estimated net worth :$35 million
• Marital status: married
• Awards: Chelsea, Essien helped the club win the Premier League in 2006 and 2010, as well as three FA Cups and one League Cup. He won the UEFA Champions League in 2012.

In the past few years, Michael Essien been a big name in the world of football.

Michael Essien is a Ghanaian football star and has featured in both champions league and premier league well over many times.

This midfielder is blessed with many mansions, luxurious cars worth millions of dollars and other assets.

He featured for a number of top European club sides including French sides Bastia and Lyon, Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Millan, and others.

He is as of now a free agent and his net worth is $35 million.

9. Asamoah Gyan Net Worth – $23 million

• Date of birth: November 22, 1895
• Nationality: Ghanaian
• Current club: Legon City FC
• Role-playing: striker
• Transfer worth: Nov 07, 2020, a deal worth $1 million.
• Estimated net worth: $23 million
• Marital status: married

Asamoah Gyan is very wealthy and currently number 8 on our list of top 10 richest footballers in Africa with an estimated net worth of $23 million.

This wonderful striker is blessed with many mansions, luxurious cars worth millions of dollars and other assets.

Asamoah’s assets include his McCarthy Hill house worth $3 million and his Rolls Royce worth about $400,000.

Asamoah has lately obtained a license to operate a private airline, ‘Baby Jet Airlines’ in Ghana.

10. Sulley Ali Muntari Net Worth– $22 Million

• Date of birth: August 27, 1984
• Nationality: Ghanaian
• Current club: without a club
• Role-playing: Midfielder
• Transfer worth: Jan 31st, 2019 Albacete
• Estimated net worth :$22 million
• Marital status: married

This soccer player hasn’t just benefited much from his lucrative football career, but also from the numerous contracts with most of England’s richest clubs.

In 2012 for instance, he earned about $7,540,000 from permanent contracts and $8,810,000 as annual salary he signed with Tottenham Hotspur.

Whilst at Manchester City the striker earned a reported $268,000 a week and by 2015, he has an estimated net worth of $22million

His fleet of cars includes six-wheeled Mercedes Brabus G63 AMG 6×6 – that cost around $900, 000 at the time of purchase.

In fact, he loves cars so much he runs a car pimping service and drives a Lamborghini Gallardo with an estimated worth of about £96,000.

He has an Escalade, a Mercedes Benz, and a Ferrari in his garage.

Awards: African Footballer of the Year, BBC African Footballer of the Year