Ronald Koeman made 1 Mio $ per month!

Dutch magazine Quote publishes their yearly rich list. On the list this time around, we find two football players. To be part of Quote 500, one needs 50 Million euros at least. Ruud van Nistelrooy is part of that top 500, despite his injury and despite the credit crunch.

Ruud is the only active player on the list. The other one, Dennis Bergkamp, quit some years back and holds the 436th position with 63 million euros to his name. Ruud is new on the list at no. 500 and is the youngest millionair bar two people with his 32 years old.

Quote editor expects more new football millionaires to join the list. “The only one who suffered from bad investments is Marc Overmars. Last year he had 50 million to his name, but he told me recently he took a couple of hits. He probably still has 40 million or so, so we don’t need to worry for him.”

In 1997, Quote published the first Quote 500 but that was in guilders. The cut-off was at 20 million guilders. “Players like Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten were in the list than. I can’t see them come back. Marco is pretty wealthy, he recently bought a new home for 6 mio euros, but as a player he was just too early to rake in the real dough. He made 6 mio guilders per year. Today, substitutes at Chelsea make that money in euros!”

No coaches on the list. Are they not taking care of business. “Guus Hiddink could be on the list I think. He never made huge money with the clubs, but his years in Korea, his deals with Philips and his time in Russia now will make sure he’s on his way to the 50 Million euro mark. The best earning coach ever must be Ronald Koeman. Valencia payed him 6 million euros to get rid of him and he worked there for six months. That’s a cool 1 million per month…”

Will the credit crunch affect the list a lot? “Well, yeah… I think the cut-off will be 45 million or maybe 40 million next year. Many investors and real estate barons lost quite some wealth. I do predict more players on the list too, like Clarence Seedorf. He is estimated to have 45 mio now and makes 5 million euros per season. He’s smart. He plays it safe and always played for top clubs. Ruud van Nistelrooy will only move up in the list. He makes 8 million per year and doesn’t do stupid things or gets divorced or something like that. Players like Robben (20 million now), Van der Vaart (16 million), Kuyt (13 million), Van Persie (12 million and Sneijder (10 million) will follow in the years to come. They are young and if they can stay healthy they will accumulate more and more. I’m telling you, if you want a quick road to millions, tell your son to play football.”