Following months of speculation regarding his next team, Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a two-year contract extension with Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr, the club announced on Thursday.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is staying at @AlNassrFC until 2027,” the club posted on X.
Minutes before the official confirmation, the team released a teaser video featuring the 40-year-old Ronaldo walking along a beachfront, stating, “Al Nassr forever.”
The Portuguese superstar’s arrival in the kingdom in 2023 to play with Al Nassr initiated a wave of prominent players in the latter stages of their careers moving to the oil-rich nation.
Last month, Ronaldo had posted “This chapter is over” just hours after the Saudi Pro League concluded with Al Nassr finishing third and once again trophyless.
“Ronaldo’s presence is a key factor in developing the Saudi league in the last two years and a half. He opens the door for elite and young players to come to Saudi Arabia,” a source from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a major investor in Saudi football, told AFP last month.
The oil-funded PIF, a sovereign wealth fund behind several significant Saudi investments, controls a group of Pro League clubs including Al Nassr, Al Hilal, and Al Ahli.
Ronaldo’s announcement in May came just months after Brazilian star Neymar concluded his injury-plagued 18-month stay in January, having played only seven times for Al Hilal on a reported salary of around $104 million a year.
Although Ronaldo was the Pro League’s top scorer with 25 goals, he has yet to win a Saudi or continental trophy with Al Nassr, which lost in the Asian Champions League semi-finals last month.
Last year, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had expressed that he might conclude his career with Al Nassr, the Riyadh-based team favored by several Saudi royals.
Saudi Arabia has significantly impacted the football world by investing heavily in European stars, beginning with Ronaldo’s transfer in late 2022. The desert nation is also set to host the World Cup in 2034.
For the past two years, Saudi football enthusiasts have been able to watch luminaries like Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, who collectively hold six Ballons d’Or, play on any given weekend during the football season in the kingdom.
However, the oil-fueled Saudi football project has drawn comparisons to the Chinese Super League, which imported players on exorbitant salaries until team owners faced financial collapse as the Chinese economy struggled.
Nevertheless, with Saudi Arabia poised to host the 2034 World Cup and keen to re-brand itself as a tourism and business hub before global oil demand permanently declines, it appears there is more to come from the Pro League.
When he first moved to Riyadh’s Al Nassr two years ago, in a deal reportedly worth $250 million at the time, Ronaldo appeared to trade an end-of-career payday for what some perceived as football obscurity.
