Louis Saha amassed a fortune of £4,3 billion after his retirement, surpassing the earnings he earned in his football career by a wide margin.
Saha created a social network, Axis Stars, for top athletes to connect and share experiences, which is now worth over £3.5 billion. – He draws on experience he gained as a player for a number of clubs, including Fulham, Everton and Manchester United, during his professional football career.
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Throughout his career as a footballer, Louis Saha experienced success. His ability to find goals meant that he created a solid legacy in the Premier League. For over a decade, he was a key figure in the English top division, and during his time with the Red Devils, he won several major trophies such as the Premier League and Champions League.
Saha’s path is a little different. Although he has built up a very impressive net worth, he has not done so through working with biochemicals, but instead while staying close to the world of sports.
Saha established a social network for sports stars
Other top professionals, like singers, are also allowed to use it
After retiring from football, Saha decided to use everything he had learned from his experiences in the beautiful sport and established a social network for athletes to discuss, give tips, and share their experiences while competing at a top level in their specific sports. The network, called Axis Stars, is only available to the super-rich and talented, and today it is worth over £3.5 billion.
According to the company itself, Axis Stars is a community that “enables authentic, mutually beneficial connections between pro athletes and entertainers, their peers, and trusted partners.” Saha formed the network with marketer Kate Hamer, and together with CTO Patrice Arnera and former Manchester United marketing expert Mike Farnan, it has gone from strength to strength. It currently has thousands of users, including around 550 former professional athletes, and as a result, Saha’s net worth has risen to a reported value of £4.312 billion according to OLBG.
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Saha created the network because of a gap in the market
He admitted that he himself would have loved something similar in his own career
In an interview with CityAM back in 2014, around the time when Axis Stars was formed, Saha revealed that the idea and desire to create such a network came from a wish that there had been something similar during his own time on the track.
“I would have loved to be able to master my job better when I was playing, but now that I’ve retired, I still have a big part to play by sharing my experience with young players.”
“I wish I had had a platform like this playing; It would have helped me manage my career and plan for the future much better.”
Years later, in an interview with The Guardian, he spoke about how successful the launch of Axis Stars had been and revealed how the results had only made him more confident that it was the right move to make.
“I still get asked for advice by different people on a daily basis. For example, my agent called to say that he had a talented French footballer that he wants to bring to England, and asked me for advice on how to create a tailor-made training program. I connected him with people I used to work with.”
“This type of player can join Axis, as he can then search for a personal trainer in his region. It’s a tough process, but it’s so rewarding because if I can help 100,000 people, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
His time off the pitch has been a huge success, but it’s important to remember how good he was at it as well.
Saha was a fine Premier League striker
He scored many goals in the English top flight
Although Saha has enjoyed incredible success as a businessman over the past ten years, he got into that position because of his outstanding career on the football field. Originally from France, the attacker started his career at Metz, and although the goals didn’t come often, he scored five times for the club. After a brief, albeit unsuccessful, loan spell at English club Newcastle United in 1999, during which Saha scored just once in 11 appearances, he eventually moved permanently to the country when he signed for Fulham in 2000.
Stats: Louis Saha scored 158 goals during his career
His time at the Cottagers was much stronger, and Saha set the First Division on fire in his debut season for the club. The attacker scored 32 times in 48 games while helping lead them to the Premier League. He would then remain in the English top division for the next 13 seasons.
However, his time at United is what he will be most remembered for, as the now 47-year-old spent four years at Old Trafford and played a key role in the team winning a couple of Premier League trophies and a Champions League title as well.
A footballer’s days on the pitch don’t last forever, and even if players earn a lot of money over the course of their career, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will keep those finances for the rest of their lives. There have been numerous examples of ex-pro players going bankrupt in the years following their retirement, but Saha’s business acumen and intelligent moves have ensured that this will certainly not be the case for him.
