There’s often news about footballers who lost either half of their properties in divorce or lost everything. Here, we are going to touch on 10 of these footballers who lost almost everything they’ve worked hard for after their divorce.
Emmanuel Eboué was reportedly signing marriage papers without knowing what he was doing. It was not until his divorce day that he realised he signed everything into his wife’s name unknowingly. ‘Suic!id£’ was one of his options after the divorce because he went back to zero, and his footballing career ended at the time.
1. Emmanuel Eboué
Emmanuel Eboué is a former footballer who played for his national team, Ivory Coast and played internationally for Arsenal, Sunderland, etc.
Eboué married a Belgian woman, Aurélie with whom he had three children but unfortunately they divorced in 2017 and the court took all the properties he had in England at that time for his ex wife.
He was rendered poor and became homeless after the divorce so he had to move back to his home country in Ivory Coast where luckily, he had properties which he managed to use to get back to his feet.
In an interview in 2021, the footballer revealed, “When I hear people say Emmanuel Eboue lost everything, I laugh. I have properties in Ghana, I have properties in my home country.”
“I live very comfortably and I thank God. So when people keep talking and say Emmanuel Eboue doesn’t have anything, he can’t eat, doesn’t have a place to stay, it’s not true.”
2. Louis Saha
Louis Saha is also a former footballer who played for France locally and internationally played for great clubs like Tottenham and Lazio.
Saha and his wife, Gillet divorced when he retired in 2012 and half of everything he had was given to his ex-wife in divorce settlement.
In an interview, Saha revealed most players lose their wealth in divorce and he has been a victim. He said, “Yes, from what I’ve observed, many of women “disappear” as soon as their husbands’ careers end… And I count myself amongst those.”
“Life is not the same for these wives, who, all of a sudden, find themselves at home with their husbands, who are pretty much depressed. Even after spending 10 or 15 years supporting their husbands, they sometimes lack recognition towards them and tell themselves… Except that a divorce can cost a player half of his earnings.”
3. Thierry Henry
Former footballer and current football coach, Thierry Henry has also been a victim of losing some fortune in divorce. Henry was married to his ex-wife, Nicole Merry, a British model in 2003.
The couple divorced in September 2007, just a little over four years after they got married and Nicole requested to be paid £10 million as settlement.
Henry and his legal team managed to come to an agreement with Nicole and he paid £8 million to her as divorce settlement which Henry said caused him some mental health issues.
4. Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs is a former football player who currently serves a football coach and lost half his fortune after divorcing his ex-wife in April 2017.
During the divorce proceedings, Riggs tried to disagree to dividing his £40 million into two for his ex-wife to take half, because according to him, he made “special contributions” during the marriage.
A couple of months after the back forth, he and his ex-wife came to an agreement on how to share his £40 million net worth before their divorce was finalised.
5. Wes Brown
Wes Brown played football as center back for Manchester United and was among the richest footballers before his divorce in 2022.
Brown was earning £50,000 weekly but sadly, after his divorce with his wife, Leanne Wassell, he was declared bankrupt a year later.
It was never revealed how much he had to pay as divorce settlement to his wife but in an interview, he revealed bad investments and trying to live the lifestyle of richer teammates caused his downfall.
6. David James
Former footballer and coach, David James went through a very bad divorce which took him to his lowest to the point where he had to sell what he had left to pay off debts.
James divorced from his wife, Tanya in 2005 after been married for 12 years. James had to settle Tanya £3million plus a share of his earnings during their divorce settlement and almost a decade later in May 2014, James was declared bankrupt by the court.
He had so much debts by November 2014 so the only way he could survive was to sell most of his football memorabilia which he earned during his football career to pay off the debts and to make money for himself.
7. Jamie Redknapp
Jamie Redknapp, who played for Liverpool has also been a victim of losing fortune in divorce settlement. Redknapp and his wife, Louise divorced in 2018 after being married for two decades.
As at the time of their divorce, Redknapp had a net worth of £15 million and he was required to pay half of it to his wife. They also reportedly had a firm they run together and agreed to pay themselves £2.4 million from the earning of the firm.
8. Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard and his wife divorced in 2015 after been together since 2002 and he was made to settle her with an amount of £2 million.
It is still unclear what led to their divorce but they two still seem to be good friends. Gerrard and his ex-wife, Curran had three kids together.
9. Ashley Cole
Former English player, Ashley Cole also went through divorce and had to settle his ex-wife £3.5 million. Luckily for him, his wife Cheryl was so a celebrity and had her fortune so she was easy on him.
10.Tendai Ndoro
One footballer who lost everything to his ex-wife is Tendai Ndoro. The Zimbabwean player reportedly signed all his properties in his wife’s name and after their divorce, she took over everything and threw him out.