Here are the top four football power couples and their love stories:
4.Luis Suarez and Sofia Balbi
Luis Suarez wasn’t always a renowned footballer, the forward comes from a humble beginning and had to work hard to make his dream come true. He started playing football when he was 6-years- old but quit shortly afterward when his father left him and his mother. Suarez later took up a job as a street sweeper and started playing football again when he had a much better balance on his life. His potential football career was almost cut short due to his aggression on the field. Coaches would threaten to remove him from the game and said he wouldn’t play forever if he didn’t change his attitude.
At the age of 15-years-old, he met Sofia Balbi who was 13-years-old at the time. Soon after meeting Sofia everything changed for Suarez. Turning his attitude around he has been quoted multiple times to have said it was due to Sofia.
“At 15, I found a girlfriend and that sorted my head out,” Suarez has said. “It helped me realize how important football was for me.”
A few years after Luis and Sofia met, she moved to Barcelona with her family. Luis was so in love and couldn’t think of being without Sofia that he worked hard enough to go pro and was signed in Europe by the club team Groningen in 2006. The couple got married in 2009 and now have a daughter and son together, Delfina (7) and Benjamin (4). Both Luis and Sofia are known for their cute matching lion tattoos on their left index fingers. This tattoo is supposed to represent their forever-lasting love.
Luis Suarez has a net worth of $70million. He earned roughly around $27million between 2017-2018. With $20million coming from salary and $7million from endorsements.
3. Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo
Just a boy of 9-years-old, Lionel Messi met Antonella through her cousin who happens to be friends with Messi. Antonella’s cousin Lucas would spend much time at her place in their hometown of Rosario, Argentina, playing around the shore of the Parana River. Messi, obviously mesmerized by her beauty declared Antonella would one day be his girlfriend. In 2008 Messi proclamation came true when he announced Antonella as his girlfriend.
Four years later the couple welcomed their first child together, a son, named Thiago. They welcomed their second son in September 2015 named Mateo. Shortly after, they were engaged and got married in a private ceremony on June 30, 2017. They welcomed their third child, also a boy in 2018 named Ciro.
Lionel Messi is currently the highest-paid footballer in the world having a net worth of $400milliom. Between June 2018 and June 2019, he earned a staggering $130 million. He currently has a lifetime endorsement deal with footwear and apparel giants Adidas.
2. Gerard Pique and Shakira
Gerard Pique and Shakira met in South Africa when he appeared in the music video for her single ”Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” in 2010. The song was the official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem at the time.
Shortly after they started getting to know each other, and as Shakira would say, ”It all started with a couple of mojitos.” Me Enamoré, by Shakira also gives a bit of insight into their initial meeting and a whirlwind romance. The couple started officially dating in 2011. Coincidentally, the two share the same birthday, February 2nd. Shakira is ten years older than Pique. They have two sons, Milan (6) and Sasha (4).
Pique has a net worth of $40 million. He is the founder and president of Kosmos Holding, a sports and media investment group. In December 2018, he bought a Spanish football club, FC Andorra through his company. FC Andorra is in the Segunda Division B, in the Spanish football league. In the summer of 2019 Pique took over a majority stake in Gimnastic Manresa, another Spanish football club.
1. David and Victoria Beckham
Victoria and David Beckham, otherwise known as Posh and Becks, are the most iconic football couple of this century. The two love birds met when David met then Spice Girl singer at a charity game in London in 1997. Beckham told his fellow teammate and friend, Gary Neville, ”That one there (Victoria), that’s the girl I’m going to marry.”
As faith would have it, they ran into each other the following day and David summoned up the courage to ask Victoria for her number. Victoria funny enough didn’t know who David was at the time being she didn’t watch football. But she later told W Magazine in an interview that she knew he was different saying:
”He was always with his mom, dad, and sister while a lot of the footballers were at the bar getting drunk. I could sense right from the start that David was a gentleman and very family-oriented, which is important because I’m the same.”
Two years after meeting the couple got married in 1999 at Luttrellstown Castle with Gary Neville as the groom’s best man. The couple was given the nickname ”Posh and Becks” and their home was called “Beckingham Palace.” They have four children together: Three sons, Brooklyn (19), Romeo (15), Cruz (13) and a girl named Harper (6).
David Beckham has a net worth of $450 million.
”On February 5, 2014, the U.S.’s MLC announced that Beckham had exercised his option to buy an MLS expansion team for $25 million. The right to an expansion team was part of his contract 2007 with the L.A. Galaxy. The new team will be based in Miami, Florida and is scheduled to begin to play in 2020. The team will be called Club Internacional de Futbol Miami, commonly known as Inter Miami.”
In May 2019, Beckham spent $50million to buy out team investor Simon Fuller (creator of American Idol) through his company Beckham Brand Holdings. The purchase price valued the team alone at $150 million.
He also has a 10% stakeholder share in Salford City FC. Salford City competes in League two of the English football league. Salford is currently owned by former Manchester United players Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and David Beckham who all have 10% shares. While billionaire businessman Peter Lim owns the rest.
Who is your favorite football power couple?
