The 2022 FIFA World Cup brought us more drama than a season of Real Housewives. The proceedings in Qatar were truly a story of good, bad, and ugly. In fact, given the rip-roaring, gobsmacking nature of the final between Argentina and France, it’s easy to forget that the tournament began with a controversial cloud hanging over Cristiano Ronaldo — the world’s single most famous athlete by several different scales of measure — and his Portugal national team.Cristiano Ronaldo Salary & Contract Breakdown
Following a ridiculous interview with Piers Morgan for British television during which CR7 took shot after unvarnished shot at his club team, Manchester United, as well as its manager and ownership, the club and the player agreed to terminate their contract with one another by mutual consent, making the legendary forward a free agent. As the tournament rolled on, rumblings got louder and louder about a potential blockbuster deal with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr awash in the sort of rumored financial terms that would rival the GDPs of any number of developing nations.
Now, we have our confirmation. Ronaldo is truly headed to the Middle East to close out his pro soccer career, and the numbers behind the move are authentically stunning: €200 million per season through the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
If we’re able to stop our heads from spinning for long enough, let’s explore the full details regarding Al-Nassr’s historic Cristiano Ronaldo salary and contract particulars.
Cristiano Ronaldo Salary & Contract Details
NOTE: Financial figures include on-field earnings and club-related marketing deals. Multiple reports suggest Ronaldo’s annual on-field salary is $75 million per year.
Years: 2.5
Total value: ~€500,000,000 ($535,195,000)
Salary per year: ~€200,000,000 ($214,078,000)
Wages per week: €3,846,154 ($4,116,885)
Free agency: 2025
Ronaldo began the 2022-23 club season as the highest-paid player in the Premier League, taking home approximately $600,000 per week. Now, he’s somehow managed to do it even bigger, with Al-Nassr sparing absolutely no expense to bring on CR7 as not just its face on the pitch, but in a reported ambassadorial role that will see him sticking around for years to come even after he retires in hopes of, we are told, bringing the centennial World Cup in 2030 to the Kingdom.
If you have questions about the moral uprightness of this eye-popping move, well, you’re not alone. If you have concerns about doubling down on the corruption and human rights failures that animated the Qatar tournament by taking global sport’s biggest event to a country governed by an even more repressive, reactionary regime, you’re not alone. But while so much on this subject is still to be settled in the years to come, it’s already clearer than clear that the landscape of the Beautiful Game has been forever altered, and the footballing toothpaste ain’t never going back in the tube.
Ronaldo’s Career Earnings
Earnings estimates through 2021-22 via Capology.
ESTIMATED SALARY EARNINGS THRU 2021-22: $375,206,217 (€361,612,690)
ESTIMATED SALARY EARNINGS THRU 2024-25: ~$910,401,217 (€850,643,510)
