Although the wealth of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo exceeded one billion dollars, they are not the richest players in football, as the wealth of the Brunei national team player Faik exceeds the wealth of the most famous and star duo by about 20 times.
Bolkiah, 24, who is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, has a fortune of more than $21 billion (most of which is inherited from his family), noting that Messi and Ronaldo entered the billion-dollar club only about two years ago, although they had accumulated most of their wealth through football.
Bolkiah plays for the Thai Chonburi team, as he previously played for several European teams: Portuguese Maritimo, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City and Southampton in England.
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A post shared by Faiq Jefri Bolkiah (@fjefrib)
And the British press reported the statements of Bolkiah, who leads the Brunei national team, in which he expressed his remorse for moving to Maritimo in 2020, and said, "I received about 3 or 4 offers after Leicester City, including Maritimo," stressing that he asked to sign for "one year and play continuously." He had missed that in his previous experiences, but "it obviously didn't happen."
Bolkiah spent 6 months in the Portuguese league with Maritimo, during which he did not play any match. Rather, he was surprised to play with the “B” team in the club, which made him leave before completing the year.
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Bolkiah - the current contract with Chonburi until 2024 - believes that Maritimo "had an ulterior motive for signing him" before leaving in 2021, moving to his Thai team, in which he achieved success and became involved in the wing position continuously.
Although he was plagued by regrets about the wrong transfers of his footballing career, the Brunei striker said his nightmare experience with the Portuguese side made him work even harder.
"It definitely made me stronger and work harder, but I definitely made the right decision to leave (Portugal). It wasn't beneficial for me or the club to stay there any longer. I had two more years left on my contract there (in Chonburi)," Bolkiah explained.
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A post shared by Faiq Jefri Bolkiah (@fjefrib)
Born in Los Angeles, Bolkiah has a photo on Instagram meeting Queen Elizabeth, and he rose to fame after signing up for the Southampton Academy, after stints with Arsenal and Chelsea.
He signed a 3-year contract with Leicester City, but made a handful of appearances for the Under-19 youth team before leaving the club.