The Goal Rich List 2013: Rules of Engagement

This list comprises a wealth index of current and active professional footballers, as measured by their identifiable wealth. Those who qualify for the list include Fifa registered professional players of all nationalities in any professional league across the world - or registered players currently without a club, but who are actively looking to sign for a professional club. We attempt to measure only identifiable assets including salaries, length of contract, bonuses, endorsement and sponsorship deals, accounts filed at Companies House, properties and other business interests. We have no access to bank accounts and do not attempt to compromise player privacy in any way. As a result, cash holdings in private accounts are not considered in this research and so actual wealth may vary slightly from the figures we have concluded. Business interests may include stakes in quoted companies as of 31 December 2012. It is much more difficult valuing stakes in private companies. We try as a general rule, to base valuations on the prevailing price/earnings ratio for a sector or an equivalent quoted company. Business interests under the name of a spouse or other family members cannot always be accounted for, but where this is possible these have been taken into account. We do not rely on gossip or other tittle-tattle in compiling this list. Most of the player information has been sourced from public sources such as company accounts lodged in Companies House or international equivalents. We have also drawn upon the expertise of reputable sources such as France Football, Forbes, The Financial Times, Four Four Two magazine, The Times, the Mail on Sunday, sportingintelligence.com, SportsPro Media, Transfermarkt and Deloitte. We have also spoken to and utilised the expertise and knowledge of a number of player agents, marketing experts and club sources. We only use private information about individuals if it has been published already in reputable newspapers, magazines or reference work or is known by reputable sources within the football and related industries, but information gathered from players is not always verifiable with absolute certainty. Where currency values have had to be converted, we have used currency valuations as of 31 December 2012 and we have not included the financial aspects of any deals or renegotiations that players may have enjoyed after 31 December 2012.