Sir David Beckham became the United Kingdom's first billionaire sportsman in the 2026 Sunday Times Rich List, the publication's latest rankings show. The list records the collective wealth of Beckham and his wife, Victoria Beckham, at £1.185bn.
The figure puts the Beckhams second among sportspeople on the list, behind the family of ex-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, whose wealth is calculated at £2bn. Beckham, 51, is now a co-owner of American club Inter Miami, which the Rich List estimates to be Major League Soccer's most valuable franchise at $1.45bn — about £1.07bn. His commercial profile also includes long-standing roles as a brand ambassador for companies such as Adidas and Hugo Boss, and his knighthood came in November.
Other sports fortunes named in the Rich List underline how concentrated wealth has become. Sir Lewis Hamilton is placed fifth with £435m. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy sits seventh with £325m. Anthony Joshua is eighth with £240m, and Tyson Fury is recorded one spot below Joshua with £162m. England captain Harry Kane and Sir Andy Murray are joint 10th on the sports list with £110m each. Outside sports figures, the list notes Barry Hearn and Eddie Hearn have joined Britain’s billionaire club with a combined estimate of £1.035bn; and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has seen his overall fortune fall by £1.85bn to £15.194bn.
For david beckham, the tally is the product of several strands the Rich List highlights: ownership of a highly valued football franchise, continuing commercial endorsements, and the couple’s combined businesses. Victoria Beckham’s wealth is described as primarily generated from her fashion label; she originally found fame as a member of the Spice Girls, and the two have been married since July 1999.
The placement exposes a fine distinction in how the Rich List counts sporting wealth. Beckham is celebrated as the first individual sportsman to reach billionaire status, yet the Beckhams are listed second among sports-linked fortunes because Ecclestone’s family — tied historically to motorsport — registers a larger family wealth. That gap points to a broader difference between personal fortunes built on brands and ownership and multi-generational family wealth that the list treats separately.
The tension also runs through the numbers on football ownership. Inter Miami’s valuation at $1.45bn (£1.07bn) helps explain why a former player can leap to the top of a sports-rich ranking. At the same time, several household names remain far below that threshold: current top-tier athletes such as Hamilton, McIlroy, Joshua, Fury, Kane and Murray still sit in the hundreds of millions rather than the billions. The Rich List therefore highlights two competing routes to extreme wealth in sport — direct ownership stakes in teams and leagues, and long careers plus endorsements — and shows ownership can remap the leaderboard quickly.
Beckham’s entry into the billionaire ranks is consequential because it crystallises where the biggest money in modern sport now sits: with assets and brands rather than match-by-match earnings alone. Given the scale attached to Inter Miami and the persistence of high-value endorsements, the list suggests that athlete-owners and their business partners will be the most likely to push sporting fortunes higher in future. That means the story of British sports wealth, for now, belongs less to playing records and more to deals struck off the pitch.
