How rich is Jacques Kallis and how did he make his money?

Former Proteas star Jacques Kallis ranks among the richest cricketers in the world thanks to a record-breaking career and an eye for a good investment.

Kallis didn’t play in an era when cricketers could rake in the millions, even if he did take part in the early editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, Kallis took the tidy sums he was paid for playing cricket and the significant sponsors’ payments and grew his fortune from there.

How rich is Jacques Kallis?

Estimates of Kallis’ net worth vary wildly with the figure fixed as low as $25 million (R467 million) and as high as $70 million (R1.3 billion).

Whether he is a rand billionaire or not, it is clear that Kallis is among the richest sportsmen in South Africa.

Kallis owns multiple properties, including a beautiful mansion in Cape Town, which he reportedly bought for R25 million in 2009.

Kallis has invested in several enterprises, including a sports management company dubbed Corné and Christo Fourie Sports Management (CC4SM) and a franchise of fast-food chain Fish & Chip Co.

The former all-rounder is also a petrolhead, with his collection of cars that includes a Porsche Cayenne, a Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, and an Audi S5.

He established the Jacques Kallis Foundation, which helps kids in need in South Africa. 

What is the Proteas great up to these days?

Kallis has worked as a coach and consultant in his post-playing days, so he still spends a lot of time around the game.

He has worked as a coach in the IPL and as a consultant for the England men’s team but is not formally attached to a team at this time. Kallis has been critical of Cricket South Africa’s transformation policies.

“I wasn’t allowed to be involved because Cricket South Africa said there would be no more white consultants, so unfortunately, that fell away,” he claimed in a Guardian interview in 2021.

Kallis is the father of two girls, born in 2020 and 2023, after marrying Charlene Engels in 2019.

The holder of many records in Proteas and South African cricket, Kallis said after he hung up his boots that records were never that important to him.

“I’ve never played the game for records and statistics,” Kallis said after his 166th and final test ended with one more victory with the Proteas, according to AP. “Records have never been important to me.”

Kallis is lauded as perhaps the greatest all-rounder the game has ever seen given how his stats compare to other legends.

He remains the only man to have scored over 10000 runs and taken over 250 wickets in both Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket.