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Elite footballers now make large sums of money during their playing careers but one former Arsenal star has built up vast wealth from a business venture after retirement
There is little comparison between Cristiano Ronaldo and Mathieu Flamini when it comes to their football careers – but it’s the ex-Arsenal man who has unquestionably had greater success off it.
While Ronaldo will one day away step away from the game with an incredible legacy, ample goalscoring records, and a cabinet stacked with domestic and European silverware, Flamini’s major honours consist of two FA Cup wins and a sole Serie A title.
But the man who plied his footballing trade in north London from 2004 to 2008, and later 2013 to 2016, has instead enjoyed resounding success with his business venture. The foundations were put in place while at AC Milan, when the former midfielder and his economics graduate business partner, Pasquale Granata, founded the company ‘GF Biochemicals’ with the view of impacting the energy industry.
Flamini also went on to play for Crystal Palace and Getafe before retiring in 2019 and the age of 39. By that point, he had invested millions into his company with the goal of producing levulinic acid, a synthetic oil substitute comprising of wood and corn waste.
Indeed, in 2015 the company became the first in the world to be able to mass produce the acid, which can be used to replace oil in the manufacture of a range of materials. And the contribution of the ex-French midfielder led to him being named as one of the People of the Year in 2015 by the NME.
At the time, Flamini explained what led him to combine business and football, telling Sifted: “As a child I had two passions: football and sustainability. I grew up in Marseilles near the sea, and was aware of the environmental questions around ocean plastics and chemical pollution from a very young age.”
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Flamini is now officially CEO of the company, which is reportedly worth a staggering £21billion. For context, that’s more than 40 times Ronaldo’s staggering £500million net worth, a figure supplemented by his huge deal in Saudi Arabia.
While his business success is now no secret, the three-cap international initially kept his company a secret from fellow teammates as he was wary of it not being successful. But that notion has long been dismissed, and in 2016 he and Granata expanded their empire and acquired US company Segetis.
Ronaldo himself has embarked in many off-field projects in his own career, albeit ones of a completely different nature to Flamini. Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels and CR7 Fitness are among his business ventures.
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