Posted on 01/04/2023 1:03:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Cristiano Ronaldo was presented as the superstar new signing of Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr on Tuesday.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus forward will play in the Saudi Pro League after rejecting offers from Europe, North America and beyond.
“Nobody knows this, but I had many opportunities in Europe, Brazil, Australia, the US, even Portugal, many clubs tried to sign me. I gave my word to this club," Ronaldo said at a news conference where he only answered questions from the master of ceremonies, despite sitting in a room full of journalists.
The 37-year-old Portugal international, who has won five Ballon d'Or awards for the best player in the world and five Champions League titles, will play outside of Europe for the first time in his storied career.
“I'm so proud to make this big decision in my life. In Europe my work is done. I won everything and played for the most important clubs in Europe. This is a new challenge,” Ronaldo said.
The football superstar said that he wanted "to give a different vision" of Saudi Arabia.
However at one point he confused the country with South Africa.
Ronaldo was presented to thousands of fans at Al Nassr's Mrsool Park against a backdrop of fireworks and smoke machines.
Excitement built throughout the day ahead of his introduction, with fans making their way to the stadium early in anticipation of his arrival.
Large video screens on the exterior walls of the ground pictured him in Al Nassr's yellow and blue shirt, alongside the words “Hala Ronaldo.”
When he eventually walked out onto the field at the 25,000-capacity stadium, the crowd chanted his name raucously.
Ronaldo had his contract with United terminated in November after conducting an explosive TV interview in which he criticized manager Erik ten Hag and the club's owners, the Glazer family.
Al Nassr, the 18-time Saudi champions, made an offer to him during the World Cup, which was held in Qatar in November and December.
However, the deal was not confirmed until December 30.
Ronaldo flew into Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Monday night, where he and his family were greeted by fans, before undergoing medical tests at Mrsool Park on Tuesday.
The hugely ambitious transfer is expected to heap unprecedented focus on Saudi soccer ahead of a potential bid to stage the World Cup in 2030, as well as on Al Nassr, which is little known outside of Asia.
Ronaldo has agreed a deal reportedly worth up to US$200 million a year — making him the highest paid soccer player in history.
Good for him. He won’t have to work into old age now...
:)
Even Group of 5 college football stadiums are larger than that. And we're supposed to think the rest of the world thinks soccer is a big deal.
He couldn’t retire on what he has?
You think Tom Brady is poor?
Heck, Texas High School Football stadiums are bigger than that.
“I gave this club my word...”
...after they offered me $200,000,000 per year to play for them.
He’s only 37 years-old and has at least another 5 years of soccer left in him. So, he will make at least a billion $.
Good for him.
That’s what the “smiley face” was for. Dude is worth $500 million.
I was joking...
42 is old very for soccer.
Yeesh, TIR...give them a chance to break ground on The Stadium That Christiano Built, why doncha?
Tom Brady doesn't play for the money. He'd probably pay to keep playing. He's always wanted to play until he was at least 45 years old. He plays for the love of the game, even at the expense of other parts of his life.
The comparison here would be if Brady went to play in NFL Europe or a semipro league for more money. No way, Brady would play in the NFL, even for less money.
[Remember, the main reason Brady won so many Super Bowls is he would always take way less money than he could and renegotiate his compensation.
From what I understand, Ronaldo is still good enough to play in top European leagues, or at least MLS. He's taking more money to play in a vastly inferior league. Can you really see Brady do that?
I did expect Ronaldo to come to the MLS maybe even next season.
I wonder if it doesn’t work out there, if it would still happen.
“And we’re supposed to think the rest of the world thinks soccer is a big deal”
Someone is paying him $200,000,000 per year. I think that is a big deal.
Over 3 billion watched the World Cup Final.
You can hate soccer, but it is the most popular sport on Earth.
Admittedly, 25,000 is kinda small for a soccer stadium.
7 of the world's 100K+ stadiums are outside the U.S. (Czech, North Korea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, and Australia) and they're all mainly for soccer and cricket.
Meanwhile, 8 of the 100K+ stadiums are in the U.S. and they're specifically for college football (though some double for NFL).
Not saying there isn't money involved in soccer. But when it comes to loving the game enough to actually attend it, 4% of the world's population fill up more 100K+ stadiums to watch American college football than the other 96% of the world attends big soccer games. Then to top that off, many of those college football stadiums are full on the same day (on a Saturday that's a home game for the Wolverines and also home for the Tide and also Penn State and also Ohio State, etc.). Then when you think about how much denser in population many areas are outside the U.S., you'd think it'd be easy breezy to find 100K fans in a small area willing to attend a soccer game. Evidently not.
When The Mexican National Team plays their games here in the US, it’s a guaranteed sellout, regardless of stadium size. They play more of their “home” games in the US than in Mexico.
Every football Saturday has multiple 100K+ stadiums full on the same day. I'm not even talking about playoffs or conference championships or bowl games. I'm talking about regular season games.
Does LIV do any Pro/Am, tournaments?
The best in the NFL don’t make anywhere near that sort of annual salary.
Despite the disdain by American viewers, World Soccer pays very well.
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