- Farooq Chauthia and Joseph Winter
- BBC news
Arab fans didn’t mind Ronaldo’s slip
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo misspelled Saudi Arabia’s name during his first press conference in his host country following his multi-million pound move to Al-Nasr Club.
As he sat in front of a wallpaper with a welcome phrase written on it to come to Saudi Arabia, the Portuguese star said in a serious voice: “It’s not the end of my career to come to South Africa.”
While Saudi officials probably weren’t happy, they didn’t try to correct Ronaldo at Tuesday’s press conference.
He doesn’t appear to have bothered his new Saudi fans, who gave him a warm welcome when he appeared in the Al-Nasr team kit, in its yellow and blue colours.
In this context, a Twitter user tweeted: “You don’t need to know the name of the country to earn 200 million euros… Anyway, welcome to South Africa, Ronaldo.”
His annual salary, which is said to be $200 million, is believed to make him the highest paid footballer in the world.
While it was an obvious slip of the tongue, it hasn’t stopped some South African fans from dreaming of seeing one of the world’s most famous stars play for their home clubs.
The South African tourism authority is still hoping Ronaldo will make an appearance at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, built in the coastal city of Durban ahead of the World Cup the country hosted in 2010.
A South African news site described it as having a “stuttering stammer”, while football editor Jonty Mark commented: “Saudi Arabia and South Africa can have the same first letter at the beginning of each part of their name (in English), but it is still It is more than strange that Ronaldo could not choose the right country for his first press conference.
However, most tweeters in the Arab world ignored Ronaldo’s slip, as one Arab user commented, saying, “There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Al-Nasr Club didn’t seem too upset, as he stated in a tweet on his Twitter account: “Everyone is happy today.”
As for Ronaldo, he’s looking forward to his new life in the oil-rich kingdom.
“In Europe my job is done. I have won everything. I have played for the most important clubs in Europe. Now this is a new challenge for me,” he said.
