Cristiano Ronaldo has signed for the Saudi Arabian football club in a move that brings his career at the top level of the game to an end and highlights the oil-rich country’s growing ambitions in sports.
Ronaldo, 37, has joined Riyadh-based Al Nassr FC on a two-and-a-half-year deal, weeks after ending a second spell at Premier League club Manchester United, where he spent much of the season on the bench. .
Ronaldo said he was “eager to experience a new football league in another country”.
“I am lucky to have won everything I wanted to win in European football and feel now is the right time to share my experience in Asia,” he said in a statement.
While most of the older players are winding down their careers at North American Premier League clubs, Ronaldo’s move could help establish the Saudis as challengers.
Saudi Arabia has made a series of new investments in sports. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund owns a majority stake in English club Newcastle United after a £305 million takeover in 2021 and thwarted LIV Golf’s bid to challenge the US PGA Tour’s dominant position in golf. State oil company Aramco is the main sponsor of Formula 1, which will race for the first time in Jeddah in 2021.
The Public Investment Fund said in October that it had agreed sponsorship with several football clubs to the tune of SAR8.75bn [$2.3bn] in the first eight months of 2022, mostly for domestic teams. Al-Nassr signed a strategic partnership with fund portfolio company Qiddiya in February.
“History in the making,” Al Nassr tweeted. “This is a sign that will not only inspire our club to succeed, but also inspire the league, the nation and future generations, men and women to be the best versions of themselves.”
Ronaldo is one of the best players in the history of football. Although he is nearing the end of his playing career, he has a huge public profile on the field. He is the most followed person on Instagram with 526 million followers, and has signed commercial partnerships with Nike, crypto group Binance and Herbalife Nutrition.
Media reports say the Portugal star could earn up to $200 million a year from the deal, which would make him the highest-paid soccer player in history. Representatives for Al Nassr and Ronaldo did not respond to requests for comment on the terms of the deal.
Ronaldo left Manchester United after complaining about the club’s owner and head coach last month.
The former Real Madrid and Juventus striker has won league titles in England, Spain and Italy, five UEFA Champions League trophies, and Euro 2016 with his country.
He captained Portugal at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar earlier this month but scored just one goal. The team dropped him from the starting line and crashed in the quarter-finals against Morocco.
The only player who has surpassed Ronaldo’s five Ballon d’Or trophies for being the best footballer in the world is Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Additional reporting by AP