TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is Faiq Bolkiah, the new player at Leicester City who deserves the title as the richest footballer in the world. Faiq is a Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah’s nephew.
Faiq's name sprang up in the last two days after he was called to join the English club, Leicester City. This is not the first time he has played for English clubs. He has traveled in the land of Queen Elizabeth since about 9 years ago. Starting his adventure with AFC Newbury, he went to Southampton in 2009.
Four years with Soton, the 19-year-old footballer then moved to Arsenal. During one season at Arsenal, he had played in the Lion City Cup event. In 2014, Faiq joined Chelsea and two years later he moved to Leicester City who had just won the English League.
It is no kidding that he is entitled as the most expensive player in the world. Faiq is the son of Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of Hassanal Bolkiah who is the head of the Brunei Investment Agency.
Jefri has spent £10 billion (Rp182.48 trillion) to invest in the last 15 years. He also has spent £35 million (Rp 638.7 billion) within a month to buy cars, watches, and white gold pen.
Faiq's father is also said to have a collection of cars up to 2,300 pieces, including luxury brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Ferrari. Not just cars, Jefri have a private plane, Boeing 747.
He is also the man who once invited the world King of Pop, Michael Jackson, to hold a private concert in Brunei in order to celebrate his 50th birthday. Jefri even built a new stadium in Brunei for the concert. The total budget that he spent was £12.5 million or about Rp228 billion.
The father of the Leicester player owns many hotels around the world. He is said to have the Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, France; Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles and New York Palace Hotel in the United States. Jefri is also called as the owner of the jewelry designer called Asprey and yacht maker factory called Tits.
With the wealth of his father, Faiq Bolkiah earned the nickname as the richest player in the world. Is he worth the title?
MIRROR
