The 37-year-old, who gained the Ballon d’Or 5 instances and whose nice competition with Lionel Messi ruled global soccer for neatly over a decade, shall be paraded at his new membership’s Mrsool Park stadium after jetting in along with his entourage past due on monday.
Ronaldo signed his estimated 200 million euros deal to June 2025 simply weeks after his departure from Manchester United, following a TV interview the place he slammed the membership and trainer Erik ten Hag.
Al Nassr, the nine-time Saudi league champions, represented a downgrade for the Portuguese ahead who spearheaded title-laden campaigns with United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Oil-rich monarchy Saudi Arabia, which has been snapping up sports activities belongings as a part of a power to melt its austere symbol, is frequently accused of “sportswashing”, or the use of game to distract consideration from human rights controversies.
“See you soon, Nassr fans,” Ronaldo stated at the airplane, in a video posted on Al Nassr’s Instagram account.
Ronaldo arrives simply weeks after the World Cup in neighboring Qatar, and as Saudi Arabia considers a joint Asia-Africa-Europe bid to host soccer’s greatest event with Egypt and Greece.
Thousands of fanatics are anticipated to pack the 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park after the membership won greater than 130,000 requests for tickets for the disclosing, priced at 15 Riyals ($4) with revenues going to charity.
On a groovy, rainy day within the wilderness nation’s capital, billboards pronouncing “Hala (welcome) Ronaldo”, and picturing the participant in Al Nassr’s blue-and-yellow package, adorned primary routes.
Police vehicles and checkpoints guarded the airport when Ronaldo arrived within the past due night sooner than being taken to a five-star resort within the town centre.
“He brought a big team of assistants and even a private security firm,” stated a membership respectable who requested to stay nameless.
Excitement is excessive over the arriving of Ronaldo, probably the most high-profile participant to come back to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf or any nation within the Asian confederation.
Fans queued down the road to shop for Ronaldo’s Al Nassr blouse, along with his trademark quantity seven, and Al Nassr’s Instagram web page won hundreds of thousands of recent fans after his signing was once made public.
“Asia has never seen anything like this,” stated a column within the United Arab Emirates newspaper Gulf News.
“Wherever he goes, he is guaranteed attention and if just 10 percent of his followers take an interest in his latest move the Saudi Pro League will become one of the most watched in world football,” it added.
It comes in opposition to the backdrop of a Saudi push into sports activities together with golfing, boxing, tennis and F1 in addition to soccer, following the takeover of English Premier League membership Newcastle United final 12 months.
Saudi Arabia, led by way of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Ronaldo’s recent at 37 — will host upcoming editions of the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games, in addition to soccer’s males’s and ladies’s Asian Cups.
Hosting the Olympics is an “ultimate goal”, its sports activities minister instructed AFP in August, whilst Saudi may be mulling its joint bid for the 2030 World Cup, officers have stated.