Faiq Bolkiah, a former Chelsea academy player now making waves at Ratchaburi FC in the Thai League, is not your average footballer. The 27-year-old winger, who was born in Los Angeles and began his career with AFC Newbury before stints with Southampton, Chelsea and Leicester, is actually of Royal descent, and his family's wealth far surpasses that of other well-known football stars. Bolkiah, who also had trials with Arsenal and Stoke City in his early teens and attended the prestigious Bradfield College in Berkshire, which costs £58,000 per year, moved from England to Portugal in 2020 to sign for Maritimo.
He played only for their youth teams for about a year before heading to Thailand and Chonburi FC. After making 32 appearances for them, he moved up to Ratchaburi, but it's his staggering wealth that has always been the main talking point throughout his footballing journey.
Bolkiah is the nephew of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, whose fortune is estimated to be around £22billion, according to various sources including Celebrity Net Worth. Some of this vast wealth is expected to be inherited by Bolkiah.
The family's car collection, believed to be the largest in the world and valued at approximately £5bn, includes an astonishing 7,000 cars. Among their other extravagant possessions is a gold-plated Boeing 747, worth a whopping £460million.
The bulk of Faiq's family wealth stems from oil reserves. Brunei has been amongst the globe's leading producers of crude oil and natural gas since 1929, with the distinction between state and private assets in the nation being extraordinarily narrow.
A substantial portion of the family fortune has been ploughed back into shares and a varied investment portfolio. The family also possesses a collection of upmarket hotels and properties across London, Paris and New York.
Yet beneath all this affluence lies what seems to be a remarkably grounded footballer, at least according to Faiq's former colleagues. The winger shared the pitch with players such as Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek during his time at Chelsea.
Ruben Sammut, who was also part of that group, told The Athletic about the Brunei international and the light-hearted jokes teammates would crack about his riches. He said: "You would never ever have thought he was something like the 12th in line to the throne.
"You would not have thought of him as royalty. He was a humble guy, trying every day like every academy player. We used to joke he didn't need to play football but he wanted to play because he loved football.
"It wasn't a regular thing we mentioned. It was that typical banter, saying he is royalty, saying, 'What's he doing playing with us?' But we all knew deep down how much he wanted to play, so it was more good-willed passing comments."