Pique, Pirlo, Lloris, Gotze: 11 footballers who were rich before football | OneFootball

Gerard Pique‘s glittering professional football career will soon come to an end.

The Barcelona legend caught everyone by surprise when he announced on Thursday that he will be retiring mid-season.

Pique’s last home match for his boyhood club will be on Saturday against Almeria and the Spaniard is sure to receive an incredible send-off.

The 35-year-old will retire as one of Barcelona’s greatest ever servants and one of the finest defenders of the modern era.

As well as enjoying a magnificent playing career, Pique is part of a select group footballers who were wealthy before they kicked a ball on the professional stage.

Below, we’ve run through 11 of them…

Gerard Pique

, Pique is certainly well-off.

He has numerous business ventures outside of football and was born into a very financially stable family.

Pique’s grandfather was a director at Barcelona, his father, Joan, is a lawyer and his mother, Montserrat, is the director of a hospital in the city.

Robin van Persie

The former Manchester United and Arsenal striker comes from a family of successful artists.

Van Persie’s father, Bob, is a sculptor, while his mother, Jose Ras, is both a jewellery designer and painter.

No wonder the Dutchman was such an artist out on the football pitch, eh?

Andrea Pirlo

In the Italian city of Brescia, the Pirlo name was well-known way before Andrea became one of the game’s great midfielders.

Pirlo’s father, Luigi, founded a steel company there in 1982, one in which the Juventus and AC Milan icon retains a stake.

Elg Steel is a multi-million euro business.

Hugo Lloris

Tottenham Hotspur star and France’s World Cup winning captain Lloris was, shall we say, born into wealth.

Lloris’ mother, Marie, is a very successful lawyer and his father, Luc, is an investment banker.

The goalkeeper’s upbringing was certainly a privileged one. It even included daily tennis lessons.

Mario Gotze

Gotze’s father, Jurgen, is a world renowned professor.

He actually was a member of the computer science department at the prestigious Yale University during the 1990s and also worked at the Dortmund University of Technology.

It’s been rumoured that Jurgen’s influence helped his son progress through the prestigious youth system at Borussia Dortmund.

Will Hughes

The Crystal Palace midfielder’s education certainly slots into the ‘wealthy’ category.

Hughes attended the very same school as Jeremy Clarkson, Roald Dahl and Basil Rathbone, the super-posh Repton School, which is located in Derbyshire.

Not much else is known about Hughes’ upbringing, but if you’re a pupil at Repton, it’s highly unlikely you’re strapped for cash…

Gianluca Vialli

Chelsea legend Vialli is the son of a self-made millionaire, which says it all.

The Guardian, Vialli grew up in the enormous Castello di Belgioioso in the city of Cremona, which had 60 (yes, SIXTY) rooms.

Wonder how many times he got lost in the house…

Oliver Bierhoff

Former Germany striker Bierhoff enjoyed a stellar career – and his on-pitch work ethic likely stemmed from his father.

Dr. Rolf Bierhoff, who was an energy company chief, always drove his son towards success as a youngster.

According to the Mirror, Rolf used to pour water on the grass in the family’s garden and then got Olivier to practice diving headers on the patch after it had turned to ice – quite brutal stuff really.

Patrick Bamford

Per the Daily Mail, Bamford comes from a privileged background.

The Leeds United striker was privately-educated at Nottingham High School, where he excelled.

Bamford achieved 10 GCSEs, including five A*s – which isn’t exactly common for a footballer. He even had the chance to go to the famous Harvard University in the US.

Michael Doughty

Doughty, who retired from the sport at the age of 27, is the son of the late Nottingham Forest owner, Nigel Doughty.

The co-chairman and co-founder of a European private equity firm, Nigel’s worth was estimated to be around £130 million back in 2011, which made him the 537th wealthiest person in the UK at the time.

Nigel sadly passed away in 2012 after pumping over £100 million into Forest, who’re now back in the Premier League.

Faiq Bolkiah

And last but not the least – the world’s richest footballer!

Bolkiah is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, who is reportedly worth an estimated $20 billion.

As a player, Bolkiah joined Leicester City from Chelsea back in 2016, but never made a senior appearance for the Foxes.

Bolkiah, who has served as the captain of the Brunei national team, is now playing in Thailand with Chonburi.

Quiz: Can you name all 30 of these ‘streets won’t forget’ players from World Cups?

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