Roman recoups Chelsea investment in nine months
442 Staff - Wednesday 07 October 2009, 11:11
Roman Abramovich may have poured £600m into Chelsea – but he's made more than that in the last nine months alone.
The latest edition of the Football Rich List, released today on FourFourTwo.com, shows that the Russian's wealth has jumped from £7bn in January to £7.8bn in September - more than covering the vast wealth he has spent on the Stamford Bridge club.
The first of the super-rich moguls to invest in Premier League clubs, Abramovich bought Chelsea in June 2003.
Indisputably the richest man in British football for the first few editions of the Football Rich List, he has recently been overtaken by newcomers from India and the Middle East – and remains at No.3 in the latest version.
The men above him have also done well since the last Rich List, despite the worldwide recession. Sheikh Mansour, the Arab prince who owns Manchester City, has seen his personal fortune rise from £15bn to £17.4bn in the last nine months.
However, Mansour has been overtaken by the previous No.2. Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian steel magnate who has invested in Championship side Queens Park Rangers, has seen his wealth explode from £12.5bn to £18.4bn over the last nine months as shares in his Arcelor-Mittal company have recovered from a stock market hammering a year ago.
"Despite his enormous wealth, Mittal crept in under the radar at QPR because of the media focus on Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone," says FourFourTwo editor-in-chief Hugh Sleight.
"But the real financial power at Loftus Road lies with the Indian. It's a signal of just how wealthy he is that even a small recovery in the economy can give him a £6bn bump."
LIST The 100 richest people in British football
NEWS Mittal replaces Sheikh Mansour on top of Rich List
BLOG Who's this Lakshmi Mittal bloke?
NEWS Abramovich makes his Chelsea investment back in nine months flat
NEWS Liverpool's joint investors now have something else to squabble over
BLOG How the Rich List is calculated
BLOG Rooney and Glazer the young and old of Rich List
BLOG: Arsenal lead the way in latest Rich List
NEWS Owen and Rooney neck-and-neck behind Becks
NEWS: Keane accrues more than Sir Alex
NEWS: Glazer bank balance swells by £400 million
LIST The 20 richest players in Britain
GALLERY The top 20 players in pictures
NEWS Fabio Capello named wealthiest manager
LIST The 10 richest managers in Britain
GALLERY The top 10 managers in pictures