From Football Journeyman to Fashion Tycoon: Reece Wabara’s Remarkable Rise

Reece Wabara is proof that there’s more than one route to the top, and in his case the road less travelled has paid off handsomely. The former Manchester City defender may have managed only a solitary senior appearance for the club, but he’s turned that modest football career into a seriously impressive business empire.

There’s no sugar-coating it: Wabara’s playing days never truly ignited in the way City would have hoped. He spent time on loan at Ipswich Town, Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers, before eventually moving on permanently. But while others might have chased one last crack at the Premier League, Wabara had the sharpness to see something else coming.

He backed himself in fashion, and that gamble has changed everything. In 2013, while still contracted to City, he put £15,000 into Maniere De Voir after taking advice from school friend Lewis Morgan, one of the minds behind Gymshark. That’s not just an investment; that’s the sort of move that separates the dreamers from the doers.

From the dressing room to the boardroom

Wabara has spoken openly about wanting to maximise his potential, and you can’t argue with the logic. He recognised early that his football career might not take him where he wanted, so he built a second lane and drove down it at full speed. The result? A brand that reportedly turns over just under £35 million a year.

The company opened its first London store on Oxford Street in 2023, a proper statement of intent. And when you see names like Raheem Sterling and Anthony Joshua wearing the label, you begin to understand why Wabara’s venture has exploded the way it has. He didn’t just stumble into success; he built a product people wanted.

There’s a lesson here for footballers, and really for anyone: talent is one thing, but timing, vision and discipline matter just as much. Wabara could have spent years drifting around the lower leagues, clinging to the hope of a late Premier League breakthrough. Instead, he took the brave route and it has absolutely paid off.

A football career that never quite clicked

Wabara’s football journey began at Walsall before Manchester City brought him in during 2007. He featured regularly enough on loan at Doncaster, where he eventually made his move permanent, but the big breakthrough never arrived. After spells with Barnsley, Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers, he called time on his playing career in 2017.

He has admitted it wasn’t an easy decision, but once the business side started racing ahead, the choice became pretty clear. If football wasn’t progressing and the brand was flying, then focus had to go where the growth was. That’s not quitting; that’s being smart.

His rise has been recognised properly too. Wabara made the Sunday Times Young Rich List in 2022 with an estimated wealth of around £26 million, and by 2024 The Times reported that his net worth had climbed to £83 million. That puts him above the likes of Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling — not bad for a former journeyman defender, is it?

So while plenty of ex-pros talk about what might have been, Wabara has gone and written a different sort of success story altogether. He left football behind, bet on himself, and ended up richer than most players who stayed in the game. That takes nerve, and in sport as in business, nerve usually gets rewarded.

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