Spanish Football Manager and former player Rafa Benitez has an estimated net worth of £23 million.
Born Rafael Benitez Maudes on April 16, 1960 in Madrid, Spain, played football in throughout his youth.
Benítez played midfielder for both Real Madrid Aficionados in the Tercera Division and Castilla FC in the Segunda Division. He was selected to play for the Spain Youth U-19 at the World Student Games in Mexico City in 1979. He scored a penalty in the opening game, a 10-0 win over Cuba.
How did Benítez earn his millions?
Benitez started his managerial career with the Real Madrid youth team at the age of 26 in 1986 as the under-19 and reserve team coach, and assistant manager for the senior team.
Related
During his career as a coach, he has managed several professional teams including Real Valladolid (1995-1996), CA Osasuna (1996-1997), CF Extremadura (1997-1999), CD Tenerife (2000-2001), Valencia (2001-2004), Liverpool (2004-2010) and Internazionale (2010-2012). He has won two Spanish Championships (2002, 2004) and the UEFA Cup (2004) with Valencia; the Champions League (2005), the European Super Cup (2005) and the FA Cup (2006) with Liverpool.
Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia and he proved himself to be amongst the top Spanish managers by winning La Liga in the 2001–02 season. In 2004, another La Liga league title and a UEFA Cup victory were added.
Following his successful season, the Spaniard then moved to English club Liverpool of the Premier League, guiding the club to victory in the UEFA Champions League in 2005. For the second consecutive season, he was named UEFA Manager of the Year. He also won the FA Cupin 2006 and reached the 2007 Champions League Final, but remained unable to win the Premier League, with Liverpool’s best league performance under Benítez a second-place finish in 2008–09.
After leaving Liverpool in June 2010, Benítez managed Inter Milan, whom he guided to the Supercoppa Italiana and FIFA Club World Cuptitles, but was dismissed midway through the 2010–11 season. In November 2012 he was appointed interim manager of Chelsea for the remainder of the season, with which he won the 2013 Europa League.
Benítez returned to Italy in 2013 to coach Napoli, where he won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana. Benítez then left Napoli and became coach of Real Madrid in June 2015 on an initial three-year contract. On 4 January 2016, however, he was dismissed following a 2–2 draw against Valencia, with Real Madrid third in La Liga behind Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.
Content from our partners
On 11 March 2016, Benítez was announced as the manager of Newcastle United.
He earned his net worth in managing multiple teams over a 14-year career and is currently the interim coach of Chelsea.
