Birmingham City v Aston Villa: Owners wealth and wage bill compared | OneFootball

Football League World compares the wealth of Birmingham City's owners to that of their bitter rivals Aston Villa

The Second City derby played between Birmingham City and Aston Villa is one of the fiercest rivalries in English football, but right now, the Blues and bitter rivals Villa seem worlds apart.

While Villa secured a Champions League place last season, Blues suffered relegation from the Championship to League One, meaning that Villa Park has played host to European giants such as Bayern Munich already this term, while St Andrew's has welcomed the likes of Peterborough United.

However, while the two clubs have not locked horns since March 2019, one thing that they share in common is that they are on the up, and supporters have plenty of reason for optimism.

Villa fans will be delighted with the progress their club has been making in the Champions League, as Unai Emery's men have managed three wins in three games at the pinnacle of European club football, but Blues supporters will also be pleased to see their side sitting top of League One, following years of Championship relegation battles.

Furthermore, Blues are enjoying the ambition of Tom Wagner's Knighthead Capital Management, who own a controlling 45.96% share of the club, as per Sky Sports, as well as being partially bankrolled by NFL icon Tom Brady.

Under the ownership of Wagner, Blues' transfer activity has caught the eye, as they smashed the previous League One transfer record with the addition of forward Jay Stansfield from Fulham for a reported fee of £15m.

Meanwhile, Football League World compares the wealth of Birmingham's owners to that of their bitter rivals Villa.

Villa's owners boast a greater net worth than Birmingham's

Villa are owned by V Sports, a company fronted by Nassef Sawiris, who is the richest Egyptian as per Good Returns, and fellow businessman Wes Edens.

According to Birmingham Live, Sawiris and Edens boast a combined net worth of £10bn, with the Egyptian responsible for £6.7bn alone.

Meanwhile, Blues controlling shareholder, Knighthead Capital Management, have a greater net worth than that of Sawiris of £7.25bn, as per Birmingham World.

However, it is Villa's owners who have a greater combined net worth, as Blues' minority shareholder, Brady, has a reported net worth of $300m, which is around £231m.

Villa's wage bill is much larger than Birmingham's

In addition to having owners who boast a greater net worth, perhaps unsurprisingly, given the fact that Villa have been a Premier League outfit for over half a decade, while Blues reside in League One, it is the top-flight outfit who also have a much larger wage bill.

According to Capology estimates, Sawiris and Edens are paying their club's players a wage bill of £104,676,000 per season, which is £2,013,000 per week.

Meanwhile, as per Capology estimates, the wage bill paid out by Blues' owners is £14,562,000 per season, which equates to £280,038 per week, so it takes Villa roughly seven weeks to pay out a wage bill which is equal to that of their rivals' wage bill for the whole season.

But while there is currently a big gap between the two clubs of two divisions, as well as clear financial differences, Blues' ownership group boast ambitious plans for a 60,000 seater stadium, which indicates that they may have European dreams of their own.