Gareth Bale admits he was always scared of going bankrupt during his career

Former Tottenham and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale
Former Tottenham and Real Madrid star Gareth BaleJOSE BRETON / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP

Former Tottenham and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has admitted that he was worried about the prospect of bankruptcy.

The 36-year-old retired from professional football following the 2022 World Cup and has since taken up golf, established Elevens Bar and Par 59 in Cardiff city centre and invested in a Welsh distillery and the Tiger Woods' TGL golf league. 

However, even though he was once the world's highest-paid player after signing a £150 million contract with Real Madrid in 2016, he has revealed his bankruptcy fears as he continues to be careful with his finances. 

"There was one thing that always scared me inside. You read articles about when people finish professional sports, they go bankrupt. They don’t know how to manage their money, they don’t know how to do all these things," he said on Front Office Sports.

"A lot of, I imagine, athletes live a big, lavish lifestyle. I try not to do that. I always had one eye on what life would be like after football. When I finish, I stop getting the pay cheque. How do people then restructure their lives? 

"So I was always trying to diversify from quite early on. I always had this pillar idea where I would try and invest my money in different things. If one pillar got chopped down and didn’t work, the whole building is not going to fall down." 

Bale has started doing occasional punditry work with TNT Sports and helped with coverage for the Europa League final, in which Tottenham won against Manchester United.

He was also part of a consortium that had approached Cardiff City to potentially take ownership, as he stays close to football. 

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