Portuguese football magnate Jorge Mendes has been named the “second most powerful sports agent” in the world by popular magazine Forbes. His football agency Gestifute was also named the “sixth most powerful sports agency”.
As the magazine points out, Mendes’ football agency Gestifute represents some of the sport’s most famous footballers, including Real Madrid and Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodríguez, Ángel Di María, Diego Costa and Radamael Falcao.
“The soccer-crazy European market, coupled with uncapped commission rates and rapidly escalating league transfer fees, has allowed Mendes to negotiate more than $950 million (€848.5 million) in active player deals, bringing him at least $95 million (€85 million) in commissions,” Forbes writes.
It is added that Mendes “is so appreciated by Ronaldo that the star bought him an entire Greek island as a wedding gift this past summer”.
Often known as a “super agent”, the 49-year-old has been named ‘Best Agent of the Year’ five times in a row at the Global Soccer Awards.
He was only bested in Forbes’ list by USA’s Major League Baseball agent Scott Boras, who achieved a staggering “$2.3 billion in active MLB player contracts negotiated, netting him more than $117 million in commissions”.
The full list can be seen at (click here)
