Mention Faiq Bolkiah in casual conversation and, unless you happen to be in south-east Asia, you’re likely to get one of two responses.
Many will profess ignorance of the 26-year-old footballer – which is not altogether surprising since he currently plies his trade in the backwaters of Thai football, a world away from the bright lights and big money of the major European leagues.
To those in the know, however, big money will be the very first thing that comes to mind when Bolkiah’s name comes up, for the LA-born, British-raised Bolkiah is the Sultan of Brunei‘s nephew, a status that has seen him cast as the world’s richest footballer.
Bolkiah rarely speaks in public, but when he does it is clear he has little time for that tag. That being the case, you might think he would do something about it; that he would use his money to reframe the narrative, to shape public perception, to write his own story.
His refusal to do so says much, for what does comes through loud and clear in Bolkiah’s occasional public utterances is a determination to block out the noise and focus on football.
His path in the game, which has taken him from the youth ranks of Premier League outfits Southampton, Chelsea and Leicester to Portugal’s Primeira Liga, and then on to Thai top-division sides Chonburi (since relegated) and Ratchaburi, has not always been smooth.
Faiq Bolkiah, who has been labelled the world’s richest footballer, is the sultan of Brunei’s nephew. He is seen here training with Portuguese side Martimo, one of his former clubs
Bolkiah’s connection to the Bruneian royal family resulted in him meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2017, a moment he could not resist sharing on social media
Bolkiah is now plying his trade in Thai League 1, where he currently plays for Ratchaburi. He previously represented Ratchaburi FC, for whom he is seen signing here
But while the geography and profile of Bolkiah’s clubs has shifted, the constants in his career have been a passion for the game underpinned by an insatiable work ethic.
‘Whatever people write and everything, I would say I’m just a very simple person, the same schedule every day,’ Bolkiah told Mainstand Thailand shortly after arriving in the country in December 2021.
‘I like to focus on football. I don’t like to focus on anything outside.’
That assessment is endorsed by Gary Koh, a Singapore-based freelance writer who is among the few journalists to have been granted an audience with Bolkiah.
‘When I met him in late May 2015 at Bukit Gombak Stadium in Singapore, he came across as driven and focused,’ says Koh.
‘A few things stood out during the interview. He was unfazed by the attention he received, as he was well protected by two bodyguards and an aide, as well as the Bruneian Games delegation officials.
Faiq Bolkiah, left, challenges Sarayut Sompim during a first round match between Brunei and Thailand in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games
Bolkiah, who began his career in England and passed through the academies of Southampton, Chelsea and Leicester City, poses during the Chelsea academy photo call in 2015
‘His replies were crisp and sharp, and gave an indication that he had received some media training when it came to handling my questions. It was clear then he wanted to succeed on his own terms, not wanting to rely on his privileged background or familial history to get where he was.’
That cannot always have been easy for a man whose family connections resulted in a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2017, a moment that even the publicity-shy Bolkiah could not resist sharing on social media.
Bolkiah’s determination to block out the external noise has come at a price, however, for his silence has allowed a number of misconceptions to take root.
It has been widely claimed, for instance, that as one of several heirs to the Bruneian royal family fortune, he is worth $20 billion (£15 billion). Yet the maths behind that assumption seem dubious: even the net worth of the sultan himself, Bolkiah’s uncle Hassanal Bolkiah, is not thought to exceed £23 billion.
‘From what I can guesstimate, that’s not what he’s worth,’ says Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies, a Singapore-based business consultancy.
‘He is one of the heirs to the throne, but he is not the direct heir – and the further you go down the list, the less of the wealth you get. It’s quite complicated within their internal royal framework, who gets what, but if you’re within the circle of the person within which the wealth gets distributed, obviously you get a lot more.
Bolkiah evades the pursuing Anon Amornlerdsak during a first round match between Brunei and Thailand in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games
Bolkiah chats to Maritimo team-mates during a training session at the Santo Antonio Sports Complex in Funchal, Madeira Island, in 2020
‘Purely based on logical reasoning, what he’s been touted to have is inflated; he’s still the richest footballer, but the amount that’s touted may be overinflated.’
So while it seems fair to assume Faiq is probably not short of a few bob – the Bruneian royal family’s fortune, derived principally from the country’s significant oil and gas reserves, has been put at £154 billion – the extent of his wealth appears to have been exaggerated.
Put it this way: Bolkiah is 23rd in line to the throne of Brunei; on what basis would that make him worth 10 per cent of the family’s total wealth? Assessments of his wealth are necessarily based on his projected inheritance, a sum that will inevitably be affected by the fact that his father, Prince Jefri, has been married five times and reportedly has up to 18 children.
Neither is that the only area in which perception seems at odds with reality.
Because of his reputed riches, Bolkiah often gets mentioned in the same breath as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He has been described as between 12 and 22 times richer than that pair combined – and from there the comments are rarely flattering, given the markedly different trajectory of his career compared with those giants of the game.
But while it might make for an arresting headline, the comparison is one of apples and oranges – not least because Bolkiah draws inspiration from a different point of reference.
Bolkiah was injured while representing Thai top-flight side Ratchaburi in February of last year
Bolkiah underwent treatment in hospital for a leg injury and did not play for a year
‘The person I watch every time before I go on the football pitch – I have videos saved on my phone, hundreds and hundreds of videos – [is] the Brazilian Ronaldo,’ he told the now-defunct Progresif Radio in 2018.
‘That’s how I try and emulate my game – I love how direct he is with the ball, every time he gets the ball he’s direct. He’s strong, he’s got the same kind of physique as me, he’s got quite big legs, he’s strong, powerful, fast. So I try [to base] my game [on] him.’
There are worse role models than Ronaldo, a double World Cup and Ballon d’Or winner, yet Bolkiah has struggled to live up to the promise he showed when youth scouts recruited both him and his cousin Ukasyah Wallace for AFC Newbury at the age of 11, following which he was picked up by Southampton.
Like many of the people contacted for this article, his manager at that time, Paul Morgan, did not respond to a request for comment.
Liam Brady, the former head of youth development at Arsenal, for whom Bolkiah featured in the Lion City Cup in Singapore during a brief association with the club in 2013, also declined to comment, as did Ian Cawley, the academy manager at Leicester, where Bolkiah spent four years following a spell with Chelsea.
One possible reason for this reticence is the Bruneian royal family’s evident distaste for the focus on Bolkiah’s wealth, an antipathy that seems rooted partly in a desire to let the player pursue his career in peace, but also in the social contract between the sultan and the country’s 458,00-strong population.
Bolkiah, left, was released by Leicester City’s academy in 2020 after four years with the club
Put simply, the government of Brunei delivers economic comfort in exchange for political liberty. It is a system that has drawn its share of international criticism over the years, and the feeling among some experts is that the royal family has no wish to fan the flames further with more ‘unhelpful’ stories.
And perhaps that is fair enough, for money is probably the least interesting thing about Bolkiah. More intriguing is what motivates a man who could pursue a life of luxury at home to instead prolong his career, which stalled when he moved from Leicester to the Portuguese side Maritimo 2020, in the relative anonymity of Thai football.
‘First of all, I know that I’m the first Bruneian to be playing at a very high level, I know that and I’m really proud of that, because I worked hard from a young age to be where I’m at,’ Bolkiah, who recently returned from a year-long leg injury, said in 2018.
‘It doesn’t just come, it takes hours and hours of training to get to that technical level. I feel like what motivates me, of course, I want to make my family proud, that’s one of the main things.
‘My family’s always behind me and always pushing me to do better. Every good news I get, I’m running back to them. So that’s one of them. I want to make them proud.
‘And also for Brunei, as well, I want to do well for Brunei, I want to put Brunei on the map.’
That things haven’t panned out like that is partly a matter of ability, Koh believes, but perhaps also a question of an appetite for football that may have diminished as he struggled to make good on his initial promise and dropped out of contention for the Bruneian national team.
‘Back in 2015, he had a decent first touch of the ball and displayed good control in his dribbles,’ said Koh. ‘But despite his good football education at Chelsea, and subsequently at Leicester City, I never felt he would actually make the grade in the Premier League.
‘He was at a decent level by south-east Asian standards, and that is where he has ended up with his present Thai club Ratchaburi.
‘His best years in football for Brunei came in his adolescence when, under the watchful guidance of Singaporean duo Mike Wong and Stephen Ng, and even South Korean coach Kwon Oh-Son briefly, he produced his best displays for the country.
‘In the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup semi-finals in Kuching, Malaysia, he nearly produced one of the goals of the tournament when he took the ball in his own half and went past a few Macau defenders before seeing his shot hit the crossbar.
‘But that was probably as good as it got for Faiq where international football was concerned. After that, he was a pale shadow of himself.
‘It is highly likely that other things have come to his attention, particularly golf, over the years as his career stagnated.
‘Not being in the national squad now is a blessing in disguise, as it helps him avoid the inevitable media attention as the royalty footballer back home, as was the case in the past.’
