The 10 richest owners in the 2025/26 EFL Championship named and ranked | OneFootball

Football League World looks at the ten richest owners in the second tier currently

In football, money is everything, and as the costs to run a football club rise, you'll often find that more and more clubs are now owned by wealthy individuals.

The higher up the pyramid, the wealthier you usually find club owners, as they have more assets to pump into the squad and its infrastructure to climb up the divisions.

Sometimes, the net worth of billionaire football owners isn't easy to source, as with so many different avenues of money that these owners are in, it's relatively difficult to find an exact amount. However, through navigating different sources, you can come to a conclusion simply enough.

With that being said, who are the 10 wealthiest owners currently in charge of Championship clubs? Football League World has named and ranked the best of the best in the second tier.

10 ? ? Tom Wagner — Birmingham City (£1.34bn)

Kicking off the list is Tom Wagner, who has earned a reputation for being an ambitious, free-spending owner since he acquired a stake in Birmingham City in May 2023.

Now, his Knighthead Capital Management company owns 100% of the second-tier side, after purchasing the remaining 51.1% of shares in November 2025, and according to a January 2025 article from Birmingham Live, he himself has a £1.34 billion estimated net worth.

With £1.2 billion being put aside by Knighthead for their new 62,000-capacity stadium, and the whole Sports Quarter said to cost between £2 and £3 million in total, it's clear that there's a lot of money in this Birmingham project, and it's no surprise that the leader of that project lands in this top ten.

9 ? ? Mark Attanasio - Norwich City (£1.45bn)

It's been a rocky ride for Mark Attanasio since he first got involved with Norwich City in 2022. The club were relegated from the Premier League, and has incurred quite the struggle to try and return.

Now, he's been the majority shareholder since March 2025, taking over from long-standing former owners Delia Smith and Wynn Jones, and the Canaries find themselves in an unlikely battle to avoid the drop as we cross the halfway point of the campaign.

However, one table that Norwich won't be finishing in the bottom three in is the wealthiest owners table. Mark Attanasio, who also co-founded Crescent Capital Group and is the chairman of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, is valued by Forbes at £1.45 billion.

8 ? ? Ruben Gnanalingam — QPR (£1.56bn)

Ruben Gnanalingam (second left), QPR majority owner

Reuters

Ruben Gnanalingam joined QPR at the same time as Tony Fernandes in 2011, but he is now the sole majority owner after his Malaysian business partner sold his shares in July 2023.

Gnanalingam comes from one of the wealthiest families in Malaysia due to their stake in Westports Holdings, the largest cargo terminal in the country. Ruben is the executive chairman and group managing director, and according to Forbes, is valued at £1.56 billion, making him the eighth-richest owner in the Championship.

John Coates has been involved with Stoke City for over a decade now, but he's been the co-CEO of one of the biggest betting companies in the world for a lot longer, having joined up with his sister Denise in 2001 to launch bet365.

Forbes has the 56-year-old as being the 1567th richest person in the world today, with a net worth coming in at just under £2 billion.

And with the Potters on the fringes of a play-off spot in the Championship this season, Stoke fans will be hoping that he can use some of that wealth to help boost them towards their goals.

6 ? ? Steve Lansdown - Bristol City (£2.3bn)

Into the top six now, and Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown clocks in at a whopping £2.3 billion, according to Forbes.

Despite this, the Robins' owner has been open to welcoming new investors to the club for a few years now. This led to an intriguing story over the summer about wealthy Saudi boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh to perhaps place a bid for the club, which he denied himself.

Nevertheless, Steve Lansdown has been big on sustainability during his time as Bristol City owner, and the club represents a strong part of that high net worth.

5 ? ? Leicester City - Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (£2.6bn)

Leicester City has been at the top of the food chain in England and have competed in all three European competitions in the past decade. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the club and its owners are worth a lot of money.

The Srivaddhanaprabha family, now headed by Aiyawatt following the tragic passing of Vichai in October 2018, are, according to Forbes, worth £2.6 billion, due to their involvement in Leicester, King Power and Mahanakhon.

There have been some recent issues with spending over the limit at the King Power Stadium to return to the Premier League immediately, but that can only really come with super-wealthy owners — hence their top-five position on this list.

Despite being 83 years old, Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner still has a plethora of business ventures, which places him in the top four of the wealthiest Championship owners.

According to the LA Business Journal, Eisner's net worth is at a nice round €4 billion (or a not-so-round £2.98 billion) due to his 14 million shares of Disney Stock, the private investment firm he owns, which has backed media and entertainment ventures such as Topps trading cards, real estate and, of course, his stake in Portsmouth.

It's been difficult to compete within the financial rules at Fratton Park over the past few seasons in the Championship, but their wealthy owner is keen to progress up the EFL in a sustainable manner.

3 ? ? Dragan Solak, Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft — Southampton (£3.004bn)

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There haven't been many recent reports regarding the net worth of the three figures who make up Sport Republic.

However, an article from The Sun in May 2023 stated that Dragan Solak's estimated net worth is over £1 billion, Henrik Kraft is worth £2 billion, and Rasmus Ankersen is worth £3.9 million.

Barring the 2023/24 campaign, it's been the opposite of plain sailing for the trio, who have watched their side lose regularly under several different managers both in the Premier League and now in the second tier.

However, there's no doubting that, due to their recent top-flight past, you have to be pretty wealthy to run Southampton, and Sport Republic therefore sits third on this list.

2 ? ? Gabriel Brener, Joshua Friedman, Warren Rosenfield, Munir Javeri and Marc Boyan - Charlton Athletic - Charlton Athletic (At least £3.68bn)

With numerous shareholders holding a 5% stake in the club, Global Football Partners, Charlton Athletic's owners since July 2023, are clearly among the wealthiest in the Championship.

Also, because of the sheer number of people we're dealing with, it's hard to put a finger on how wealthy the ownership group actually is. Although a report from London World in September 2025 did state that Joshua Friedman alone is worth £3.68 billion.

Therefore, you can only imagine that the Addicks are among the upper echelons on this list, and given the money they pumped into the side over the summer, spending multiple seven-figure fees on promising League One stars, the evidence checks out.

The grey area is even larger when it comes to Ipswich Town's ownership group, especially given that a shift in the structure in December 2025 means that, despite ORG remaining part of the group, Portman Holdings LLC are now the new majority shareholder in the club due to fresh investments under their banner.

The investment put into Ipswich since Gamechanger LTD took over in 2021 has been immense, with the club transforming from a League One mid-table side back to its former Premier League glory in the matter of years.

Now, the football club itself is on a level with most Premier League sides in terms of value, despite its Championship status, and in various articles detailing Premier League ownership from last season, Ipswich's owners ranked in the top ten for net worth at an estimated £10bn.

That figure would likely have changed in the months since, especially given the ownership shift, but there's no doubt that the Tractor Boys have the wealthiest owners in the entire Championship currently.