Highlights

• Eden Hazard's infamous incident of kicking a ball boy during a match in 2013 had a significant impact on the boy's life, leading to increased social media following and media attention.
• The ball boy, Charlie Morgan, has since gone on to achieve great success as an entrepreneur, co-founding the popular vodka brand Au Vodka, which has seen remarkable growth and international expansion.
• Charlie Morgan and his business partner, Jackson Quinn, have achieved immense wealth and recognition, making the Sunday Times' Young Rich List for 2023 and entering the ranks of some notable celebrities and sports stars. The success of Au Vodka has catapulted them into the spotlight and positioned them for further growth and expansion.

Can you believe it’s now more than a decade since former Chelsea ace Eden Hazard kicked Swansea City ball boy Charlie Morgan during his debut season with the west Londoners? Time really does fly, especially when – particularly in Morgan’s case – you are making loads of money.

Hazard - who announced his retirement in October 2023, aged 32, four months after his Real Madrid contract was terminated in June - was shown a straight red card by referee Chris Foy following the bizarre incident during a League Cup clash at the Liberty Stadium in January 2013. The Belgian winger caught the young lad while attempting to retrieve the ball.

Only a teenager at the time, Morgan appeared to be in considerable pain as he left the pitch while holding his side. After the incident, Hazard came forward to protest his innocence. The former Lille superstar, whose career in west London was just starting out, insisted that he was trying to kick the ball – and not Charlie. But the cameras in Wales caught it all.

“The boy put his whole body on to the ball and I was just trying to kick the ball. I think I kicked the ball and not the boy. I apologise.”

The youngster took to Twitter to confirm that he’d spoken to Hazard and wouldn’t be pressing charges. South Wales Police also stated that no action would be taken against the former Lille star, who was 22 at the time. Charlie, it turned out, was the 17-year-old son of Swansea director Martin Morgan - owner of the Morgans Hotel and worth a reported £65 million, according to The Sun.

In the aftermath of the Hazard incident, Charlie’s social media following went from 600 to a staggering 100,000. Several newspapers, meanwhile, revealed the youngster lived an ‘enviable lifestyle’ involving luxury holidays and flash cars - and that hasn't changed in the 11 years following the incident. Let's take a deep dive into the archives to see how his life has panned out after being kicked by Hazard.

Charlie’s life post-Hazard

Ex-ball boy has built a multi-million pound entity

Charlie, thanks to his hard work, initiative and all-round persistence, is now well and truly living – and enjoying - the high life. Three years after his well-documented clash with Hazard, he realised his dream of setting up his own business after spotting a gap in the alcohol market.

Alongside his friend and now Managing Director of the company, Jackson Quinn, the pair created Au Vodka - a vision that stemmed from watching their pals unwrap bottles of their favourite vodka on their 18th, 19th and 20th birthdays. Per the Manchester Evening News, Au Vodka went from a one-time limited run of 2,000 bottles (sold to local bars in Swansea) to manufacturing a remarkable 35,000 bottles daily.

Popular with young adults thanks in part to its eye-catching gold design, Au Vodka comes in ten flavours: Au Original, Black Grape, Blue Raspberry, Fruit Punch, Red Cherry, Green Watermelon, Pineapple Crush, Bubblegum, Pink Lemonade and Cosmic Berries. A limited-edition Double Espresso Coffee Liqueur, meanwhile, was released in December 2021. The popular beverage is a mainstay on Tesco shelves UK wide, while Sainsbury’s and Asda also sell the product, with Charlie noting their brand entering the aforementioned trio of supermarkets as a ‘big milestone’, per WalesOnline.

“A big milestone for us was entering huge multinational grocers, Tesco. It was a big moment for us, seeing our flavours stocked on the shelves of stores nationwide. We now have four flavours available in Tesco including, Blue Raspberry, Red Cherry, Pineapple Crush and our Double Espresso Coffee Liqueur, with much more to come. We’re also going into Sainsbury’s and Asda in October which will also be a surreal moment for us, not to mention that we're also stocked in hundreds of Wetherspoons across the country."

The brand has also gone international and can be purchased in 40 countries around the world, including Australia, Spain, the United States and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The addition of Charlie Sloth - a British DJ, producer and TV presenter - was a game-changer for the company. Jordan Major, Head of e-Commerce at Au Vodka, was quoted saying in September 2021, per Brightpearl, that Sloth’s involvement in the company took it to a new level, especially thanks to his wide range of contacts in the music industry.

“Things really blew up for us in 2019 when Charlie came on board. Charlie helped us get endorsements from UK rappers and celebrities, including the likes of Headie One, Chip and Nines. We then launched our Black Grape flavour, and we coloured the vodka itself to match – which was something that hadn’t really been done with vodka before.

“It was a huge success. Then, earlier this year, we had our biggest endorsement yet – from boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. Floyd is a hero of ours, so it was a really surreal moment to see him holding bottles of Au Vodka.”

The stratospheric rise of Au Vodka

The alcohol company continues to grow

Crowned the winner of Brightpearl’s Lightning 50 - a league table that showcases the UK’s fastest-growing retail brands - in 2021, Au Vodka’s turnover grew from £800,000 to a mind-blowing £38.5 million, according to Retail Sector. Named the most popular vodka brand on the internet by The Spirits Business, Au Vodka’s founders, Charlie and Jackson, entered The Times’ Young Rich List in 2022, with an estimated fortune of £40 million each.

Au Vodka was also named by The Times as the number one company to watch in 2023, per the MEN’s report, and it has become the best-selling premium vodka in the UK. Per BBC, Au Vodka was valued around the £150 million mark in August 2023 after Jake Paul helped to propel the Swansea-based start-up. That’s right – Paul, who is famed for his online personality and involvement in YouTuber boxing, had a tattoo of their bottle temporarily inked onto his body for £200,000.

Charlie’s position on Sunday Times Young Rich List 2023

He sits above Harry Kane

In the year of 2023, both Charlie and Jackson made The Sunday Times' Rich List - Richest People Under 35 in the UK for the second year running. They currently sit in joint-27th spot with a personal fortune of £55 million each. To put that into perspective, the Au Vodka duo are even higher on the list than One Direction superstars Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson (£54 million each). They're also above England captain Harry Kane (£51 million).

Morgan and Jackson are now closing in on Harry Potter megastar Emma Watson (£60 million) and Premier League star Raheem Sterling (£61 million). Their worth is growing so exponentially that it might not be too much longer before they're knocking on the doors of former Welsh footballer Gareth Bale (£70 million) and pop star Dua Lipa (£75 million).

Morgan reveals all about his story

‘It’s been an immense journey’

Reflecting on what has been such a whirlwind journey so far, per WalesOnline, Morgan insisted in 2022 that it's difficult to sit and appreciate his and Jackson's work - from whacks to riches - when the next big thing for the company is seemingly always on the horizon. That said, he suggested that there was more to come from him and his pal's start-up, which further highlights the pair's drive to become the crème de la crème in the vodka sector.

“It’s almost hard to take a moment to reflect when we have the next big project coming up and there is always something new we’re working on. But, looking back on how far we have come, it’s been such an immense journey with plenty of milestones hit and definitely so much more to come.

“International expansion of the brand has proved to be another success for us, we’re now sold in over 40 countries worldwide. Having E-commerce stores in Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, among many others, allows customers in these countries to order our vodka straight to their doors."

Going off the increase in Au Vodka's value over the years and the brand's global status nowadays, it is safe to say that Charlie is well on his way to dominating the vodka sector. Was being booted by Hazard a sliding doors moment for him? Who knows? But it’s certainly been some journey for one of football’s most famous former ball boys.