Skip to main content

Wealth & Money Quote by Alessandro Del Piero

"Money is not everything. My ambition was football itself, not the money I'd make from it. If that brings me and my family a more comfortable lifestyle, then that's fine. But I don't spend my time between games and training sessions thinking about figures"

About this Quote

Del Piero is doing something elite athletes are constantly asked to do: justify wealth without sounding either defensive or ungrateful. The line opens with a familiar disclaimer, but it’s less a moral sermon than a boundary-setting move. “Money is not everything” isn’t meant to deny the obvious economics of modern football; it’s meant to re-center the story on craft, obsession, and identity. He’s telling you where the engine is.

The subtext is reputational triage. In an era when footballers are treated as brands and contracts are tabloid sport, he positions himself against the caricature of the mercenary. Notice the careful phrasing: “football itself” (the game as an end), “comfortable lifestyle” (comfort, not extravagance), “that’s fine” (permission without apology). Even “me and my family” is strategic: it frames financial gain as responsibility rather than appetite.

The most revealing part is the last sentence, which reads like a rebuttal to the invisible interviewer: I’m not counting; I’m training. It’s a claim to mental purity, but also to professionalism. Fans want loyalty, clubs want leverage, sponsors want a clean narrative. Del Piero offers all three: ambition rooted in performance, money acknowledged but domesticated, and a quiet insistence that the real scoreboard is on the pitch.

Context matters: coming from a player associated with one-club devotion and a pre-social-media celebrity economy, this is a defense of a certain old-school football virtue - not poverty, but priorities.

Quote Details

TopicSports
SourceHelp us find the source
CiteCite this Quote

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Piero, Alessandro Del. (2026, January 15). Money is not everything. My ambition was football itself, not the money I'd make from it. If that brings me and my family a more comfortable lifestyle, then that's fine. But I don't spend my time between games and training sessions thinking about figures. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/money-is-not-everything-my-ambition-was-football-40373/

Chicago Style
Piero, Alessandro Del. "Money is not everything. My ambition was football itself, not the money I'd make from it. If that brings me and my family a more comfortable lifestyle, then that's fine. But I don't spend my time between games and training sessions thinking about figures." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/money-is-not-everything-my-ambition-was-football-40373/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Money is not everything. My ambition was football itself, not the money I'd make from it. If that brings me and my family a more comfortable lifestyle, then that's fine. But I don't spend my time between games and training sessions thinking about figures." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/money-is-not-everything-my-ambition-was-football-40373/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Alessandro Add to List
Del Piero on Prioritizing Craft Over Money
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

Alessandro Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero (born November 9, 1974) is a Athlete from Italy.

5 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Greg Akcelrod, Athlete
Greg Akcelrod