At the end of his contract with British club Manchester United, Frenchman Paul Pogba is expected to join his former club Juventus in Turin. Photographed by American Business Magazine Bloomberg, the French world champion did not decide on his next team but sported a sweatshirt flanked by the crest of the American financial services company Wahed.
The midfielder was approached last September by the founder of the start-up established in Islamic finance, a sector where investments are supposed to have positive social repercussions, in accordance with the principles of Sharia. With ex-MMA champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Paul Pogba has become one of the main ambassadors of this company which advises young investors.
Silicon Valley and biochemistry
“As a young, black and Muslim millionaire, Pogba hopes to succeed in inspiring other players from disadvantaged backgrounds to manage their money better,” Explain Bloomberg. After the defeat of France against Portugal in the final of Euro 2016, the player had spent more than 100,000 dollars in a month of vacation in Miami and Los Angeles.
“I was really shocked, I was like ‘Hula, that’s a lot’ […]and from that day on I said to myself ‘Okay, I’m done’.”
Like Paul Pogba, many footballers approach financial advisers. In five or ten years, explains the director of a consulting firm specializing in sports investment, this relationship has evolved from summary exchanges to long discussions about cryptocurrencies, the metaverse or start-ups.
“The new generation of gamers are more in the know than a lot of people through entrepreneurs, through social media or influencers, and they understand that there is more to traditional forms of investment.”
During their career or once retired, top athletes no longer consider investing solely in the sports sector, notes Bloomberg, citing NBA basketball player Andre Iguodala, involved in Silicon Valley, or former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini, who has become the general manager of a biochemical start-up.