The Rich-List: Top 50 Richest Footballers In the World

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47. Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F Marinos) – £17m

Shunsuke Nakamura is a national hero in Japan and has become one of the most prominent and successful Asian players of all time largely down to his performances and goals in the Champions League for Celtic.

The 34-year-old midfielder has played in Italy, Scotland and Spain since starting as a professional in 1997 with Yokohama aged 19.

He then signed for Reggina for £2 million in 2002, and after three years in Italy moved to Celtic in Glasgow where he picked up three league and two cup winners’ medals. He is probably best remembered for scoring the goal against Manchester United that put the club into the lucrative Champions League knock-out stages for the first time.

A brief spell in Spain with Espanyol followed – on a contract worth £25,000 a week – before he returned to his beloved Yokohama in 2010, turning down a £30,000 a week offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.

A former captain of his national team, Nakamura won 98 caps for Japan and it is his success with the Samurai Blue and his breakthrough into top-flight European football that catapulted his wealth, namely through his off-field earnings.

He has enjoyed lucrative sponsorship deals with the likes of Konami, NAMCO, Yamada, Nissan (Yokohama parent company) and Adidas.

Before returning to the J-League, financial analysts in Japan calculated that re-signing Nakamura would generate £90m into Yokohama and the local economy in just two years, through additional sponsorship and TV deals and a 30% rise in commercial income, including kit sales.

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