World’s richest players .. rejected the English Premier League and starred in Thailand
Fayek Bolkiah’s fortune, which made him the world’s richest player, did not meet the Premier League’s spotlight, but he put his career back on the right track after his brilliance with his Thai team after repeated failures in England and Portugal.
Bolkiah has in his bank accounts more than 16 billion pounds, and the reason for his wealth is due to his relationship with his uncle, the Sultan of Brunei, Hassan Bolkiah.
Fayek was born in Los Angeles, USA and grew up in England. He loved football during his childhood, and he previously stated in an interview published by the English newspaper “Mirror”, saying: My parents were always supportive of the idea of becoming a football player. Physically, in a great way to be ready to fulfill my footballing dreams.
His father, Jeffrey Bolkiah, nicknamed “the playboy” in the royal family, who is said to spend about 35 million pounds a month, owns more than 2,300 cars, and brought Michael Jackson to celebrate his 50th birthday party in private.
Returning to the career of his son, who has 17 brothers who constitute a group of legitimate heirs to the wealth of the Sultan of Brunei, Fayek played with Newbury Club in England in the junior ranks, and moved to the Southampton Academy in 2009, but his level did not secure him a professional contract, and here he decided to spend a probationary period with Arsenal in 2013.
Fayek participated in a youth friendly tournament with Arsenal in Singapore, during which he scored a goal, after which the rival Chelsea decided to give him a two-year contract in 2014, during which he joined forces with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham.
He only spent one year with the “Blues” youth, after which he wore the Leicester Foxes shirt after joining the team on a 3-year contract.
According to the “Transfer Market” website, Fayek, who tends to be a winger inside the green rectangle, played 5 matches with the Leicester youth team, with a total of 345 minutes, during which he provided a single assist.
His journey in the English stadiums ended in September 2020, after which he defended the colors of the Portuguese club Martimio, who decided to terminate his contract a year later after he failed to participate during any minute with the first team.
The statement issued by the Portuguese club did not mention any reasons for his departure: We reached an agreement with the player to terminate his contract, we thank him for his dedication to the club, and we wish him the best on both the professional and personal sides.
Fayek then decided to leave Europe and go to Southeast Asia, specifically the Thai club Chonburi, and quickly made the difference with him, participating in 10 meetings, 5 of them as a starter, and making 3 goals in 404 minutes of play.
The player, who holds No. 11, won the Man of the Match award twice, with his team that is ranked sixth in the local league, and is only 4 points behind third-placed Chiangari United.
After his good performance with his team, the president of the Thai club spoke about him and said: It is a good thing for our club to have a player that the whole world is talking about, if he is the richest football player in the world, this is something that belongs to him off the field.
He continued, “Our contract with him came because of his level and professionalism, not his wealth. He is a professional player and does not ask for special advantages more than his colleagues. He has great skills and will be an addition to us, of course.”
Fayek is happy that he is playing now, stressing in press statements that he “has not had a chance to show his abilities during the recent period” and that he is determined to prove his quality as a football player.
On the international side, Fayek wears the captaincy of his country, with whom he participated in 6 matches, scoring one goal, after playing for Brunei for the first time in October 2016.
Fayek’s huge wealth did not affect his “humility”, as one of his former Chelsea colleagues praised him during an interview with “The Athletic” website: We did not know at first who he was and what his origins were, it is impossible to realize from his actions that he is a member of a royal family.
He continued, “He was a normal boy who trained hard like all the academy players, we used to joke with him and tell him that he didn’t need to play ball, but he used to tell us that he just loves it.”
