Cristiano Ronaldo signed a mega £175million-a-year contract with Al-Nassr following his exit from Manchester United.
Cristiano Ronaldo is not being paid to promote Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid (Image: Getty)
Al-Nassr have strongly denied that Cristiano Ronaldo is being paid to help promote Saudi Arabia’s 2030 World Cup and join Lionel Messi as an ambassador for the country. Reports in France had claimed that part of Ronaldo’s agreement to join Al-Nassr to make him football’s highest-paid player was for the 37-year-old to have his wages doubled for backing Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the World Cup in seven years.
The supposed deal would essentially see Ronaldo earn an eye-watering sum of around £1million a day at £300m per year. It would also see him join forces in a blockbuster pairing with Messi to help promote Saudi Arabia’s bid.
But Al-Nassr have strongly denied any suggestion that Ronaldo’s contract with them includes a special clause relating to the World Cup.
The statement read: “Al Nassr FC would like to clarify that contrary to news reports, Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with Al Nassr does not entail commitments to any World Cup bids. His main focus is on Al Nassr and to work with his teammates to help the club achieve success.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has begun training with his new team-mates (Image: Getty)
The 2022 World Cup was the first time the tournament was hosted in the Middle East as Qatar faced intense scrutiny for the manner in which they secured the vote back in 2010. Saudi Arabia are now hoping to replicate Qatar’s success with a joint-proposal alongside Egypt and Greece.
It would be another first for FIFA as the World Cup has never been hosted in three different continents at the same time. The hosts of the 2030 World Cup will be announced next year at the 74th FIFA Congress.
Cristiano Ronaldo sold one of his five Ballon d’Ors to Israel’s richest person
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Featured Image Credit: Alamy & MARCA
Cristiano Ronaldo has won five Ballon d’Ors in his sparkling career but elected to sell one of his replica trophies back in 2017.
Typically, those who have had the honour of winning the Ballon d’Or hand over the replica version to the club they won it playing for.
Or alternatively, it ends up in their own personal trophy collection or museum. But when it comes to his 2013 Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo asked for it to donated it to charity, as per MARCA.
It went to auction, with all the proceeds going to Make-A-Wish, the charity which helps children suffering from serious illnesses.
The event took place in London and Idan Ofer, Israel’s richest person, won the prize with a whopping €600,000 winning bid.
He posed with the gold trophy alongside Ronaldo’s long-time representative Jorge Mendes.
Also up for grabs at the same auction was a meet and greet with legendary managers Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho at a boxing event in Manchester, with €30,000 being forked out for that prize.
Image: Alamy
Auctions for Ballon d’Ors aren’t too common although the silverware and memorabilia collected by Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano did sell for a lot back in 2021.
His 1957 Ballon d’Or went for £60,800, with his second, picked up two years later, selling for £54,400. The rare ‘Super Ballon d’Or’, only held by Di Stefano, commanded a winning bid of £187,500.
Ronaldo’s last Ballon d’Or came in 2017 and Lionel Messi has pulled away in the duel, with seven Ballon d’Ors to his name.
Image: Alamy
However, organisers France Football have acknowledged that the late, great Pele, is actually level with Messi after doing an “international re-evaluation”.
Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, never played in Europe and so was never eligible for the award. He spent the majority of his career scoring goals aplenty for Santos, before joining New York Cosmos in the United States.
Source: express.co.uk; sportbible.com
