World Football Cribs: Inside 15 Ridiculous Footballer's Houses

Peter Webster@@petercwebsterX.com LogoContributor IIIApril 27, 2012

World Football Cribs: Inside 15 Ridiculous Footballer's Houses

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    Who'd be a footballer?

    International acclaim, women throwing themselves at you, insane fitness levels, vast quantities of cash, free sports equipment, plus you get to play football every day. Oh, did I mention the houses? Footballers have nice houses.

    Who'd be a footballer?

    Here are 15 footballer houses that are rather nice to look at and worth a fair bit of money—one should imagine.

David Beckham

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    David and Victoria Beckham decided to cut their ties with England and sell Beckingham Palace—pictured above.

    The married couple now live in Los Angeles where David earns his living for the L.A Galaxy football team.

    Beckingham Palace—not to be confused with Buckingham Palace—is valued at approximately £18 million.

Shola Ameobi

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    Kids, if you don't work hard in life and instead decide to play average football for the rest of your careers, you too could have a house like Shola.

Steven Ireland

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    Stephen Ireland is a former Manchester City midfielder who now occasionally plods around the pitch for Aston Villa.

    His footballing fall from mediocre grace could perhaps be blamed on the fantastic house he resides in.

    Containing a black pool table with his own name written on it is one thing, but his daughter's room takes the biscuit as possibly the pinkest thing you'll ever see in your life.

    Seriously, it's unbelievably pink.

    Oh, and apparently, Ireland once considered having a shark tank installed underneath his kitchen. Just saying.

Thierry Henry

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    Apparently, Thierry Henry is redesigning his house in order to accommodate a £250,000 fish tank, which will stand 40 feet high and be visible from every floor in his house.

    Bear in mind that this is the design for Henry's London home, not his current dwelling in New York.

    The annual fish food bill for the planned 300 fish is approximately £2,500 a year.

John Obi Mikel

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    So apparently, John Obi Mikel eats a ton of takeaway. That's really the only thing I took away from this video tour of his house in London.

Gary Neville

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    Gary Neville upset some of his neighbours when he was given planning permission to build his new self-sustaining eco-home on the West Pennine moors near Bolton.

    Neville's neighbours have concerns regarding the 50-foot wind turbine that powers the house, and expressed their displeasure to a local news station.

Djibril Cisse

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    When Djibril Cisse signed for Liverpool Football Club in 2005, no one expected him to change his title.

    Apparently, that's what happened, though.

    Purchasing his mansion in Cheshire came with the title Lord of the Manor of Frodsham—a worthy title when spending £2 million on a new pad.

    Cisse was allowed to use his new title in any correspondence mentioning his name but stopped short of having it on the back of his Liverpool jersey.

Phil Neville

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    Everton's Phil Neville is believed to have owned the most expensive flat in Manchester back in 2010 when it was valued at close to £4 million.

    The photo above shows one of the magnificent views that can be enjoyed from his balcony.

Cristiano Ronaldo

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    Back in 2008 when playing for Manchester United, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who was upsetting his neighbours after they branded this property offensive and brutal in Alderley Edge.

    Ronaldo ignored them and built the £4 million mansion anyway.

Hulk

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    Is anyone else really unimpressed with Hulk's house? I mean aside from the swimming pool, obviously.

    From what I saw, FC Porto's best player doesn't even have his toilet roll on a holder? Seriously, 1:16 of the video—check it.

Lionel Messi

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    According to FCBfans.net, this is the house of Lionel Messi.

    If it is Messi's domain, then I'm not surprised. Swimming pools and palm trees surely come as standard for a footballer's crib these days.

Wayne Rooney

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    Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney lives in a sprawling mansion in Chesire with his wife, Colleen.

    The property is apparently worth £4 million and is kept secure by Manchester United's private security firm CES.

Various

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    OK, so technically it's not their main living abode, but multiple footballers have bought villas in this man-made Dubai island paradise, according to Forbes.com.

    David Beckham, Michael Owen and Joe Cole have all allegedly purchased here.

Ronaldo

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    The Ronaldo—formerly of the Brazilian national team—has quite an abode himself.

    Above is the photo of his modest living room, but his house also boasts a cool games room complete with disco light and large screen television.

Harry Kewell

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    This clip of Harry Kewell's house was recorded back when he was playing for Liverpool FC, but it still gives a good insight into the life of the Australian footballer.

    Who knew that Harry Kewell was the chief chopper?

    On Twitter? Follow me @petercwebster where I post all my B/R content.

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