Portrait of the richest player in the world but missed the AFF Cup twice
Not football superstars like Ronaldo or Messi, Faiq Bolkiah from Brunei is the player with the biggest assets in the world, but has never participated in the AFF Cup.
If you search online with the keyword "richest soccer player in the world", the name Cristiano Ronaldo will appear with a total asset value of about450 million USD.
However, according toFourFourTwo, that is exactly the answer for a player who got rich thanks to football. On the other hand, if you look for the football player with the largest fortune in the world, that name is from Leicester City Club, midfielder Faiq Bolkiah is said to be 27 times richer than Ronaldo, and 33 times richer than Lionel Messi.
Not only is he the richest player in the world, Faiq has even surpassed top sports stars like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Floyd Mayweather to become the richest athlete right now.
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| Faiq Bolkiah once played for Chelsea's youth team. Photo:FourFourTwo. |
How did the 20-year-old become the richest player in the world?
Born in Los Angeles, USA on June 9, 1998, Faiq is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. The head of state has an estimated net worth of20 billion USDand was once the richest man in the world.
Faiq is the son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, who isVanity FairHe is said to be "deeper in money than anyone else on earth". With his family's huge fortune, Faiq naturally became the richest player in the world.
Faiq's father is said to own 2,300 cars, 8 Boeing planes, 5 yachts and 500 houses and palaces. He is also famous for attending the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson's live show at his 50th birthday party.
Despite being born into a royal family, Faiq chose to become a football player and is playing for the U23 team of Leicester City in the English Premier League.
Faiq started his football career at the age of 9 at AFC Newport (Wales) before moving to Southampton and participating in the youth academy for 4 years. In 2013, he was brought to Arsenal and also played for the U15 team in the Lion City tournament, also scoring a goal.
Faiq then moved to the Gunners' direct rivals Chelsea in 2014, before signing a three-year contract with Leicester City in March 2016. Despite not having played for the first team, Faiq has made his mark for the Foxes in the UEFA Youth League.
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| Faiq twice missed the chance to compete in the AFF Cup finals. Photo:Sin CortaPisa |
Twice missed the AFF Cup
Eligible for selection to either the US or Brunei national teams, Faiq was called up to the US youth team but ultimately decided to return to serve Brunei at the U19, U23 and senior levels. At the 2015 Asian Games, Sultan's nephew scored against Timor Leste despite losing 1-2.
In 2016, Faiq made his senior international debut against East Timor in the AFF Cup qualifiers, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 win at Phnom Penh Stadium. This was a tournament that retained the eight-team format, with Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and East Timor playing a round-robin qualifying round to determine the only team to advance to the next round.
Unfortunately, the victory over East Timor was also Brunei's only 3 points in the qualifying round. They ended up only ranked 3rd, behind Cambodia (9 points) and Laos (6 points).
Two years later, Brunei had a great chance to compete in the Southeast Asian championship when the AFF Cup 2018 allowed up to 10 teams to participate in the final round. Brunei only had to play two home and away playoff matches against Timor Leste, a team that was always considered the weakest in the region.
However, a surprise happened when in the first leg, East Timor won 3-1 against Brunei, opening up a big advantage for the small country of only about 1 million people to play for the first time in the region's largest arena.
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| Faiq played enthusiastically for the national team while still playing football in Europe. Photo:New Brunei Daily. |
In the second leg at home at Negara Hassanal Bolkiah, the Brunei team could not turn the situation around. In the only match (up to now, Faiq played for the Brunei team in 2018 and wore the captain's armband), the yellow army only had one goal thanks to Najib Tarif's goal. Faiq was even substituted in the 89th minute. The last efforts for Brunei to find another goal were unsuccessful.
In the end, the Faiq team lost to Timor Leste with a total score of 2-3, thereby still not being able to return to the AFF Cup arena since 1996.
For his part, the richest player in the world, when returning to play for the national team, also missed out on both times competing for a place in the final round of the Southeast Asian Championship.
