About a decade or so ago, if you ever saw a health insurance advertisement on television, it typically went like this: the man of the family has a health scare, and the family realises that they need financial security just in case the breadwinner’s life gets cut short. The end, followed by: Buy XYZ life insurance and take care of your family even when you’re no longer around to do so.
When it comes to sports people, their limbs, and their bodies, are their breadwinners. Their careers would get cut short if they had an accident or other incident that rendered them unfit to continue playing the sport that they excel at. And as one can imagine, world-famous athletes earn a lot. They not only earn from sports, but also from endorsements and advertisements – opportunities that are tied strongly to their sporting success. A sudden halt in income could leave a gaping hole in their finances.
Therefore, many athletes have insured body parts for millions. This makes sense because the payout that comes into play should the insured body parts be injured would need to cover what they would otherwise have earned had it not been for the injury.
Let’s look at some popular athletes who have insured their body parts:
We’ll go with ladies (more like lady – singular) first.
- Venus Williams
After getting a first-hand taste of what risk looked like when she injured both her wrists in 2006, Venus Williams opted for an insurance policy for her wrists. The American tennis legend has an insurance policy worth €15 million.
Closer home, tennis champ Sania Mirza is also said to have insured her hands.
- Lionel Messi
Well, obviously, the star footballer has insured his legs, but he has also specially insured his left foot, which alone cost the Argentinian footballer €750 million. By the way, did you know that Messi is left-footed but right-handed?
- David Beckham
Some football fans reading this are probably going to argue that Beckham is no longer bending it, or in other words, that he is retired. However, he is a case in point because he’s always been a leader when it comes to endorsements, and he has not only insured his body, but also his face.
The price tag for his insurance policy – €177 million.
- Fernando Alonso
The Formula 1 racer has supposedly insured his thumbs – information available is not very recent (his insurance policy isn’t half as juicy as his move from Alpine to Aston Martin) but Reuters reported over a decade ago that the policy cost over €10 million.
- Cristiano Ronaldo
He did not wait for an injury to strike and insured his legs as soon as he was signed by Manchester United back in 2009. The premium paid towards the Portuguese football player’s legs is a little over €100 million.
- Gareth Bale
Like a lot of others, a reality/risk check is what seems to have got Bale thinking about an insurance policy for his legs. The footballer’s insurance policy comes at a price tag of about €100 million
- LeBron James. And all the famous basketball players you know
In case you’re wondering why footballers ruled this list of athletes who have insured their body parts, so far, and whatever happened to the likes of Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum, here you go:
It’s because NBA rules state that every basketball team has to ensure its top 5 players, or its Most Valuable Players (MVPs) and that means that most of the famous basketball players we know, don’t really buy their own insurance. But what we do know is this, – the amount typically hovers around 5% of the MVPs salary.
So there you have it, the most expensive legs, wrists, thumbs, and left foot there ever was. Who knew that talking about insurance could be this interesting!
