In football, money is everything, and as the costs of running a football club climb, you’ll notice that more and more clubs are being bought by wealthy individuals.
The higher up the pyramid you go, the wealthier the club owners are, as they have more assets to invest in the squad and its infrastructure to advance through the divisions.
The net worth of billionaire football owners might be difficult to determine at times, given there are so many diverse sources of income for these owners. However, by navigating many sources, you can get a simple conclusion.
Having said that, who are the ten richest owners currently in charge of Championship clubs? Football League World has selected and ranked the top performers in the second tier.
10Tom Wagner — Birmingham City (£1.34bn)
Tom Wagner leads the list, having established a reputation as an aggressive, free-spending owner since acquiring an interest in Birmingham City in May 2023.
His Knighthead Capital Management business now controls 100% of the second-tier side, having purchased the remaining 51.1% of shares in November 2025, and according to a January 2025 Birmingham Live report, he has an estimated net worth of £1.34 billion.
Knighthead has set aside £1.2 billion for their new 62,000-capacity stadium, and the entire Sports Quarter is expected to cost between £2 and £3 million, indicating that there is a lot of money in this Birmingham project, and it’s no surprise that the project’s leader is in this top ten.
9Mark Attanasio – Norwich City (£1.45bn)
Mark Attanasio has had a difficult time with Norwich City since joining the club in 2022. The club was relegated from the Premier League and has faced significant challenges in its attempts to return.
Now, he has been the dominant stakeholder since March 2025, succeeding long-time owners Delia Smith and Wynn Jones, and the Canaries face an unlikely battle to avoid relegation as the season nears its halfway point.
Norwich will not, however, rank in the bottom three of the wealthiest owners table. Forbes values Mark Attanasio, who co-founded Crescent Capital Group and chairs the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, at £1.45 billion.
8Ruben Gnanalingam — QPR (£1.56bn)
Ruben Gnanalingam joined QPR alongside Tony Fernandes in 2011, however he is now the sole majority owner after his Malaysian business partner sold his stake in July 2023.
Gnanalingam is from one of Malaysia’s wealthiest families, with a stake in Westports Holdings, the country’s largest cargo terminal. Ruben is the executive chairman and group managing director, and Forbes estimates that he is worth £1.56 billion, making him the Championship’s eighth-richest owner.
7John Coates – Stoke City (£1.94bn)
John Coates has been with Stoke City for over a decade, but he has also been co-CEO of bet365, one of the world’s largest betting organizations, since 2001, when he founded it with his sister Denise.
Forbes ranks the 56-year-old as the 1567th richest person in the world today, with a net worth of little under £2 billion.
And, with the Potters on the verge of a Championship play-off berth this season, Stoke supporters will be hoping that he may utilize part of his wealth to help them achieve their aims.
6Steve Lansdown – Bristol City (£2.3bn)
Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown is now in the top six, with Forbes estimating his net worth at £2.3 billion.
Despite this, the Robins’ owner has been welcome new investors to the team for several years. This sparked an intriguing rumor over the summer regarding wealthy Saudi boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh’s potential bid for the club, which he denied.
Nonetheless, during his tenure as Bristol City owner, Steve Lansdown has prioritized sustainability, and the club accounts for a significant portion of his high net worth.
5Leicester City – Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (£2.6bn)
Leicester City is at the top of the English food chain, having competed in all three European championships over the last decade. As a result, it is not surprising that the club and its owners are extremely wealthy.
The Srivaddhanaprabha family, presently led by Aiyawatt following Vichai’s untimely death in October 2018, is worth £2.6 billion, according to Forbes, thanks to their investments in Leicester, King Power, and Mahanakhon.
There have been some recent concerns with spending over the limit at the King Power Stadium in order to return to the Premier League right away, but it can only come from extremely wealthy owners, hence their top-five ranking on our list.
4Portsmouth — Michael Eisner (£2.98bn)
Despite being 83 years old, Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner still has a slew of business ventures, putting him among the top four wealthiest Championship owners.
According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, Eisner’s net worth is a nice round €4 billion (or a not-so-round £2.98 billion) due to his 14 million shares of Disney Stock, the private investment firm he owns, which has backed media and entertainment ventures such as Topps trading cards, real estate, and, of course, his Portsmouth stake.
It’s been difficult to compete within the budgetary constraints at Fratton Park in the Championship over the last three seasons, but its wealthy owner is eager to move up the EFL in a sustainable manner.
3Dragan Solak, Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft — Southampton (£3.004bn)
There haven’t been many recent reports on the net worth of the three individuals who comprise Sport Republic.
According to a May 2023 article in The Sun, Dragan Solak’s net worth is predicted to be more than £1 billion, Henrik Kraft is worth £2 billion, and Rasmus Ankersen is worth £3.9 million.
Barring the 2023/24 season, it’s been everything but easy for the trio, who have seen their team lose often under several different managers in the Premier League and now in the second division.
However, there’s no doubting that, due to their recent top-flight past, you have to be pretty wealthy to run Southampton, and Sport Republic therefore sits third on this list.
2Gabriel Brener, Joshua Friedman, Warren Rosenfield, Munir Javeri and Marc Boyan – Charlton Athletic – Charlton Athletic (At least £3.68bn)
With many stockholders owning a 5% ownership in the club, Global Football Partners, Charlton Athletic’s owners since July 2023, are obviously among the richest in the Championship.
Also, due to the large number of people involved, it’s difficult to determine how affluent the ownership group is. Although a London World article from September 2025 stated that Joshua Friedman alone is valued £3.68 billion.
As a result, you can only think that the Addicks are near the top of this list, particularly given the money they injected into the side over the summer, spending numerous seven-figure payments on promising League The evidence checks out, therefore one star.
1Portman Holdings LLC — Ipswich Town (At least £10bn)
The grey area is even larger when it comes to Ipswich Town’s ownership group, especially since a change in the structure in December 2025 means that, despite ORG remaining a member of the group, Portman Holdings LLC is now the club’s majority shareholder due to new investments under their banner.
Since Gamechanger LTD took over Ipswich in 2021, the club has undergone massive investment, taking it from a League One mid-table side to its former Premier League glory in a couple of years.
Despite its Championship position, the football club’s wealth is now comparable to that of most Premier League sides, and in several publications outlining Premier League ownership from last season, Ipswich’s owners were rated in the top ten for net worth at an estimated £10 billion.
That sum is likely to have changed in the months after, particularly considering the ownership change, but there is little doubt that the Tractor Boys currently have the wealthiest owners in the Championship.
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