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Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo received a huge public welcome at Marsoul Park, kicking off a two-season career with Saudi side Al-Nasr.
Ronaldo, 37, picked up the win in a historic deal worth around $200m a year.
Ronaldo announced during his first press conference after joining Al-Nassr: “I had many opportunities to play in clubs in Europe, Brazil, Australia, the United States and even Portugal… Many clubs tried to sign me.”
During his presentation ceremony to Al-Nasr fans at the team’s stadium, Ronaldo said, to their applause: “I gave my word to this club… I achieved everything… I ‘ve played for the biggest clubs in Europe… and now I’m facing a new challenge in Asia.”
The Portuguese star, five times Ballon d’Or, received a huge public welcome from Saudi fans, gathered at the Marsool Park stadium in Riyadh.
As part of the deal, which will run until 2025, Ronaldo will receive the highest salary paid by a player in football history.
Cristiano Ronaldo has a footballing track record that places him among the biggest names in world football in the 21st century. He won the Champions League five times with Real Madrid, the championship in Spain, in Italy with Juventus and in England with Manchester United.
Ronaldo was top of the European Champions League goalscoring list and the top scorer for his country, with whom he won the European Cup in 2016.
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At the recent World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo became the first player to score in five rounds of the World Cup.
Nine-time Saudi League winners Al-Nasr described their contract with Ronaldo as “more than historic” and that he would inspire other Saudi League clubs.
And the Saudi Minister of Sports, Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, has pledged to support the rest of the clubs in the imminent conclusion of qualitative agreements with international stars.
Ronaldo’s deal with Saudi club Al-Nasr is one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest sporting deals in ‘Formula 1’ motor racing, boxing and golf, in addition to acquiring by Saudi Arabia from English club Newcastle.
However, this deal raised many questions, whether in terms of high financial value or how much Al-Nasr and Saudi Arabia would benefit from it.
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Cristiano Ronaldo was criticized by some of his fans and supporters, who saw the deal as an attempt to “whitewash” the Kingdom and distract people from the country’s human rights record.
Commentators also objected to the deal, considering that a salary of $200m is an astronomical figure, and therefore it was better for the club to include younger players, and not a single player on the verge. to retire.
“Without diminishing the value of the Al-Nasr club, what will Ronaldo offer as a player in the Saudi role? The club does not rely on a single star. And there is no club in the world that has won victories relying on a single star. Victory is won by a system of players and administrators led by the coach. I don’t think Ronaldo can do much within the Saudi system.”
Journalist Raqam believes that it would have been better to use this amount in the events of a football academy which could be a building block for the production of scientifically trained players who will feed the teams of the Saudi League in the coming years. years.
However, defenders of the deal believe that the benefits of it will extend to the Al-Nasr club, Saudi football and the Kingdom in general.
In an interview with Talking Point, Abdullah Al-Faraj, head of the Makkah newspaper’s sports section in the Riyadh office, explained that the agreement will prove its importance in the fields of tourism, economy and propaganda for Saudi Arabia and its plan to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
And the Saudi journalist went on to say: “Hours before Ronaldo’s arrival in Saudi Arabia, local and international media and social media were preoccupied only with this issue. In addition, requests for tickets to attend the Ronaldo’s public welcoming ceremony at the Marsool Park stadium exceeded 140,000 requests, while the stadium’s grandstand capacity does not exceed 25,000 people.”
Abdullah Farraj adds that the club are starting to reap the rewards of the Ronaldo deal. It was revealed that the Qatari channel “BN Sport” was looking to buy the right to broadcast its matches, and the market value of the club increased significantly, and the sales of its companies increased significantly.
Reportedly, to date, he has raked in 242 million riyals from the sales of Ronaldo shirts.
Abdullah concludes his comment by saying that the goal of including Cristiano Ronaldo is not purely sporting and not for the purpose of improving the game at the Al-Nasr club as much as it is a broader goal in a giant investment, sports and tourism project that makes Saudi Arabia a soft power in the region?