Cardiff City v Swansea City: Owners wealth, wage bill, highest paid player compared | OneFootball

We compared the owners wealth and how much money is spent on players between the two Welsh clubs in the Championship

Swansea City and Cardiff City have both struggled for success in recent years in the Championship, and their days of facing each other in the Premier League feel a long time ago now.

Neither side has troubled the play-off places in recent seasons, and while they were both in the Premier League as recently as 2019 and 2018 respectively, the days of a top-flight return seem a long time away.

It looks like another season of mid-table finishes at best for the Championship's two Welsh clubs, and if the 1-1 draw in August was anything to go by, there's not too much between the two sides either.

The two clubs are bitter rivals and will be battling to finish above each other in the Championship table this season, and with that in mind, we've looked at the difference in their owners' wealth, wage bill and highest paid player.

Cardiff City and Swansea City's owners' wealth compared

Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan is well-known thanks to some controversial moments, but Swansea City's American owners, Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, aren't quite as well known.

Malaysian businessman Tan took over the Bluebirds in 2010 and while he's helped the club to two Premier League promotions, he's an unpopular figure for some after changing the club's colours from blue to red between 2012 and 2015.

Tan has a reported net worth of $730million, which equates to £552million. At his peak, he had a net worth of $1.6billion (£1.2billion), and he's attributed some of that money lost to running Cardiff City.

Meanwhile, down the M4, the ownership situation is a little bit more difficult to analyse, and 74.9% of the club is owned by Andy Coleman, Stephen Kaplan, Jason Levien & Jake Silverstein (via Swansea Football LLC), Nigel Morris owns 12.59%, and Swansea City Supporters Society Ltd own 9.42%.

Kaplan has a net worth of $18.3million (£14.1million), while there is no information on Levien's net worth. However, reports suggest that Swansea City's ownership group in total have a combined net worth of around £230million.

Cardiff City and Swansea City's wage bills compared

It must be stressed that we are using Capology for this information and, while it may not be 100% accurate, it still gives us a good insight into player wages.

Cardiff City's Capology page states that they have a weekly wage bill of £392,538, which works out as an annual wage bill of £20,412,000.

Meanwhile, at Swansea, Capology states that they have a weekly wage bill of £223,692, and an annual wage bill of £11,632,000.

This means that Cardiff spend an estimated £168,846 more a week on wages, and they'll feel as if they're not getting value for money with that, given their position in the league table.

Cardiff's average weekly salary is £14,019, while Swansea's is £8,604, perhaps a direct impact of having an owner with less cash at their disposal.

Swansea City and Cardiff City's highest paid players compared

Swansea City's highest earner is Matt Grimes, who earns an estimated £22,500 a week, while Cardiff City's highest earner is Aaron Ramsey, who is earning a reported £50,000 a week.

It's fair to say that Swansea are certainly getting the better deal there, with Grimes a mainstay in Luke Williams' side, playing every minute of every game, while Ramsey has struggled badly to remain fit, and it looks like poor business by the Bluebirds.

Ramsey's two-year deal expires this summer, and it would be a shock if Cardiff renewed it on anywhere near that sort of money, with the 33-year-old heading towards the twilight of his career.