How Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday's owners made their millions | OneFootball

We looked at how the owners of Steel City rivals Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday made their wealth.

Local rivals Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are back in the same division this season for the first time in five years.

Sheffield United were relegated from the Premier League last season after just one year in the top flight, while Sheffield Wednesday secured survival in the Championship following a remarkable turnaround under Danny Rohl.

The pair met in the hotly-anticipated Steel City derby last weekend at Bramall Lane, and in what was a tight affair with chances at a premium, it was the Blades who came out on top, with Tyrese Campbell's 50th-minute strike sealing a narrow 1-0 victory for Chris Wilder's side.

United will have been delighted to secure the local bragging rights, but it was also a crucial three points for them in the context of their season, with the victory ensuring that they head into the November international break sitting second in the table, and they will be looking to do the double over their neighbours when they make the trip to Hillsborough on Saturday 15th March.

While the Blades and the Owls have had contrasting fortunes on the pitch in recent years, they have both experienced off-field issues under respective owners Prince Abdullah and Dejphon Chansiri.

After the rivalry between the two clubs was reignited, we looked at the net worth of United and Wednesday's owners and how they made their money.

How Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah made his money

Prince Abdullah first became involved with Sheffield United when he purchased a 50% stake in the club in September 2013, and after a lengthy legal battle, he took full control in September 2019 when co-owner Kevin McCabe was forced to sell his 50% share for £5 million.

When he arrived at Bramall Lane, The Telegraph claimed that Prince Abdullah had a personal wealth of $18 billion, but he emphatically denied those reports, and the Daily Mail have since revealed that his net worth is actually £198 million, which is still a significant figure.

Prince Abdullah is a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family, but much of his wealth was built through the paper manufacturing company SPMC Group, which he founded in 1989, and it became one of the largest companies in the Middle East before he sold his shares in 2016.

In addition to his paper business, Prince Abdullah has taken a keen interest in sport over the years, and he served as the general president of Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority between 2014 and 2017, while he has also been involved with a number of football clubs, including Beerschot, La Berrichonne de Chateauroux and Kerala United.

Prince Abdullah has made no secret of the fact he has been looking for a way out of Bramall Lane for some time, and after a number of failed takeover attempts, it was recently revealed that he had agreed to sell the club to a US consortium led by Steve Rosen, who was present in the stands for the Steel City derby alongside fellow investor Helmy Eltoukhy, in a deal worth more than £100 million.

How Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri made his money

Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri bought the club from Milan Mandaric for £37.5 million in January 2015, and it has been a turbulent nine-and-a-half years under his ownership.

Chansiri's exact personal wealth is unknown, but his family's company, the Thai Union Group, is the world's biggest producer of canned tuna and has a revenue of $4.2 billion, while according to Forbes, his father Kraisorn has a net worth of $575 million, which placed him 42nd on the list of Thailand's 50 richest people in 2020.

While much of Chansiri's wealth has been inherited from his family, he also has business interests of his own, and he has previously owned construction and property businesses in Thailand, while he also owns D Taxis and Elev8, who have made and sponsored the Owls' kits in the past.

However, The Guardian claimed in 2019 that Chansiri was "putting more than £1m a year into the club through sponsorships by entities connected to him which are not currently commercially active companies", with both D Taxis and Elev8 named as examples.

Chansiri has come in for increasing criticism from Owls supporters in recent times, and a number of protests took place against his ownership last season, but unlike Prince Abdullah, there looks to be little chance of him selling the club any time soon.