The top 10 richest British sportspeople have been revealed in a new Rich List compiled by the Sunday Times – with David and Victoria Beckham sensationally pipped to the post after accruing a staggering billion-pound fortune.
A raft of sports are represented across the top 10, which features stars as diverse as Tyson Fury, Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray.
But few can match the staggering wealth of Bernie Ecclestone, a decade on from the billionaire selling Formula One to Liberty Media in one of the sporting deals of the century.
None of these stars have solely relied on their prodigious talent to fill their coffers however, with almost all of them possessing a business acumen second to none.
But who makes the cut – and by how much?
Here, Daily Mail Sport assesses sport’s highest earners and shares how they made their fortune – and how they spend it.
David and Victoria Beckham have accrued a staggering fortune but they are not the highest-earning on the list
That honour instead sits with Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone seven decades on from his start in motor racing
Bernie Ecclestone and family: £2bn
When Bernie Ecclestone first dipped his toe in the world of motor racing as a debutant in the 500cc Formula Three Series nearly seven decades ago, the diminutive Formula One behemoth will have had little idea of the riches the sport could bring him.
The mastermind behind the modern Formula One product, Ecclestone transformed the sport into a multi-billion-pound business, lining his pockets as chairman via lucrative media and promotion deals in the process. Selling up to Liberty Media in 2016 for a staggering £3.3bn only served to further feather the then-85-year-old’s Switzerland-based nest.
Recent events have dented the coffers somewhat – a 2024 fraud ruling for failing to declare £400million-worth of undeclared overseas assets landed Ecclestone with a 17-month suspended prison sentence and a £652.2m tax bill.
But the nonagenarian and beneficiaries of family trusts including his daughters Petra and Tamara are certainly some way from feeling the pinch. A £23m chalet in Gstaad called ‘Le Lion’, his own private Alpine glacier, two super-yachts, a private jet, and an £8m coffee plantation in Brazil make up just a small selection of his overstuffed portfolio.
The diminuitive billionaire enjoys an array of eye-catching toys, including two super-yachts
To call David Beckham a sportsperson is to underplay the last three decades spent cultivating the full-time family business that is Brand Beckham.
Since becoming football’s first international power couple with truly global reach in the late 1990s, the Beckhams have accrued both massive wealth and international name recognition through high-profile brand deals, and the development of their own lines such as Victoria Beckham‘s fashion and beauty companies, Eyewear by David Beckham and Haig Club whiskey.
Recent investments are even more diverse, taking in wellness through Beckham’s IM8 supplements brand, his MLS Cup-winning Inter Miami football club, and a media arm, Studio 99, which among other productions, made Netflix’s Beckham documentary last year.
The Beckhams also inked a deal with Authentic Brands in 2022 – most recently an area of focus in son Brooklyn’s passionate statement discussing his rupture with his parents – with the conglomerate reportedly paying $269m for 55 per cent DB Ventures share.
As such, the Beckhams have built the lifestyle to match, which takes in a sumptuous Cotswold Estate, £16m Riva yacht named for their daughter Harper’s middle name, Seven, and a mansion near London’s Holland Park worth an estimated £31m.
The Beckhams spend much of their time in the Cotswolds at their palatial country estate
When Barry Hearn established Matchroom Sport in the early 1980s, snooker, and darts in particular, were far from the money-making international properties they have become – in large part thanks to his promotion.
Decades later, his son Eddie adding boxing – a small but significant part of the business as a whole – to the mix, representing stars including Anthony Joshua and helping the company’s worth rise to over £1bn, boosted by a 15 per cent stake acquisition by Bruin Capital this month.
But darts is the undisputed jewel in the crown, with Sky Sports inking a £125m five-year deal with the PDC – the organisation Matchroom has a majority share in – last autumn to firm up its commitment to one of its highest performing sports.
But compared to some of the other millionaires on the list, both Barry and Eddie Hearn are relatively low-key in the flaunting of their wealth – although the former’s sprawling £15m Brentwood mansion makes a pleasing perch from which to survey his empire.
Ben Francis: £800m
Francis represents a relative minority among the top 10 in that although he has amassed massive wealth through sporting means, he himself has never been a sportsman.
Instead, the entrepreneur founded successful gymwear brand Gymshark at the age of just 19, soon expanding into gym ownership and establishing a global foothold in the fantastically lucrative athleisure market.
A passionate Aston Villa fan, Francis is no doubt making plans to take in their upcoming Europa League final in Istanbul – beyond any potential football-related foible, Francis has also built an exclusive country pile in the Cotswolds on a former dairy farm.
Lewis Hamilton’s rare car collection is just one aspect of his wide-ranging investment portfolio
Ground-breaking Formula One driver Hamilton is a long-time Rich List fixture, as much for his massive salaries as his brand endorsements of companies including Tommy Hilfiger, Puma and Sony.
A large portion of his staggering fortune remains rooted in his sport, with the seven-time world champion raking in £50m per year as part of his bombshell move to Ferrari at the start of last season. But the driver is an avid investor too, via his Lewis Hamilton Ventures. As part of his portfolio, Hamilton has invested in areas as wide-ranging as beverages such as Almave, a non-alcoholic blue agave spirit, film production via Dawn Apollo Productions, and his Plus 44 clothing line.
As one might expect, Hamilton has also enjoyed his massive wealth, diversifying his portfolio with lavish homes in destinations including west London, Monaco, Los Angeles, and Lake Geneva, and a rare car collection worth more than £13m.
Tom and Phil Beahon: £350m
Like Ben Francis, the Beahon brothers have tapped into the ever-growing sportswear market to build their fortune, launching their brand Castore in 2015. Early renown for the brand came from a partnership with fellow top-10 member Andy Murray, who launched his AMC brand through the company, and since then, Castore has branched into football kit supplier, Formula One sponsorship, as well as supplying rugby kits and outfitting the England cricket team.
The brand also successfully weathered a small storm in mid-2023 when jerseys supplied for Aston Villa’s kit appeared defective in the early stages of the season. Castore now provide shirts for their Premier League rivals, Everton.
The Liverpool brothers remain down-to-earth – with Tom claiming to still drive his old Volkswagen Polo as recently as 2023 – but they have their indulgences as the business has grown, with the duo buying two luxury villas on the Spanish coastline.
Rory McIlroy is thought to have made his move to British soil with the purchase of an elaborate mansion in Surrey
Rory McIlroy: £325m
Few sports can see its stars command prize pots as large as golf’s, but McIlroy’s wealth is particularly impressive considering that the Northern Irishman has eschewed the temporary riches of formerly Saudi-backed LIV Golf taken up by rivals such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
Instead, McIlroy has made a stack from his own prodigious talent and string of deals with brands including Nike and Omega watches – not to mention having canny success as an investor through his Symphony Ventures portfolio. Shrewd investments include taking notice of sports tech companies Whoop and Hyperice, and at-home golf simulator Jupiter.
McIlroy has a property portfolio to match: worth over £30m, the two-time Masters champion has homes in Jupiter in Florida, a 19th-century estate in Ireland, and a mansion on the Wentworth Estate in England.
Anthony Joshua: £240m
Although Joshua has made his promoter Eddie Hearn piles of money, the former heavyweight champion has made stacks of his own – and is set to only make more as he gears up for the British fight of the decade against Tyson Fury.
Surprisingly, one of Joshua’s biggest paydays has come some time past his glorious best, picking up £70m last December when he defeated former YouTuber Jake Paul in a high-profile bout streamed with broadcasted giants Netflix.
But not for nothing is one of Joshua’s ringside nicknames ‘the Landlord’ – Joshua has amassed a property empire worth an estimated £200m, including enormous prime commercial real estate in London, Lagos, and Hertfordshire.
Both Anthony Joshua and his long-time promoter Eddie Hearn have made the top 10 list
Tyson Fury: £162m
Just behind his soon-to-be rival in the ring, Fury has also commanded mammoth paydays throughout his illustrious career. Particularly eye-catching have been recent Saudi Arabian bouts, with Fury’s repeated retirements overturned for vast sums.
These however have all been dwarfed by his blockbuster showdown with Oleksandr Usyk, which saw the Gypsy King make £85m from his share of the purse in May 2024, before the two heavyweight fighters split a staggering £150m prize pot for their rematch a year later.
But despite the unique paydays Fury has been awarded, he and his family have eschewed living anywhere other than the north of English coastline, living for many years in Morecambe before moving to the Isle of Man this year.
There, Fury snapped up a sprawling mansion worth £8m featuring a gym, a cinema, private gym – and long-desired privacy away from his many fans on the mainland.
Harry Kane: £110m
As well as sealing ten-figure move from Tottenham to Bayern Munich, the England captain has accrued massive wealth as one of the most recognisable faces in football, and a brand ambassador for companies such as Nike and Mars. Kane is thought to have made £11.8m alone from management of his image rights, such is the power of his status in the game.
But like all of the figures in the top 10, Kane is no one-trick pony content with just his high-flying career on the sporting field. Via The Harry Kane Company, the forward manages a raft of investments in businesses and real estate.
Most interestingly is his investment in Reflo, a performancewear company made sustainably with recycled fabrics, and committed to planting one million trees a year. Less sustainable are the works that Kane has carried out on his palatial £20m home in Surrey, with the star having bought the land for a comparatively paltry £6.5m three years ago before building his dream house.
Sir Andy Murray: £110m
Less than two years after he called time on an illustrious playing career, Murray has maintained a healthy fortune and increased it through thoughtful investing in brands like Castore, even coming on board at venture capital fund Redrice Ventures as an associate partner.
Murray also has his own brands, such as his Cromlix hotel in his native Scotland, and Game4Padel, a company which builds padel tennis courts capitalising on the sport’s impressive boom which Murray has invested heavily in.
But the pull of tennis – and far smaller paychecks – still proves strong, with Murray signing up to coach his compatriot Jack Draper for the upcoming grass season.
