It is the last bang of the football year 2022 and the first of 2023.
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who will hit the respectable age of 38 for a footballer in February, has joined al-Nassr in the Saudi capital Riyadh on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
This wasn’t necessarily planned. Ronaldo recently said in an interview: “I want to end my career at the highest level, with dignity and with a good club.” That’s why he couldn’t imagine moving to a country like the United States, Dubai or Qatar.
The reason Ronaldo changed his mind is financial: he will earn the equivalent of 200 million francs a year in Saudi Arabia, which makes a daily wage of 547,945 francs. If you break that down into an eight-hour day, albeit with a seven-day week, that would equate to an hourly wage of CHF 68,493.
This figure can be considered obscene and disproportionate. There is almost no objection.
But the agreement with Ronaldo is part of a gigantic plan by Saudi Arabia: on the one hand to improve its image through sport and on the other to bring the 2030 World Cup to the country.
Lionel Messi, who has just become world champion with Argentina and under contract with Paris St-Germain, the French branch of Qatar, promotes the Saudi “Vision 2030”, closely linked to the candidacy for the World Cup.
Spicy detail: Argentina is also among the contenders (along with Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile) for the World Cup on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the tournament.
