Very shortly after the Portuguese superstar signed up for Al Nassr, the club’s Instagram page gained over 5.3 million new followers.
December 10, 2022 will always be remembered as the bleakest day in Portugal’s football history. This was when Portugal, favourites to win the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, were eliminated by the Morocco team in the quarterfinal.
After the match, the camera zoomed in on the dejected figure of Cristiano Ronaldo, slowly walking towards the tunnel on his way to the locker room. But he could not hide his disappointment as a camera in the tunnel showed the once proud player breaking down in tears before hurriedly sweeping past it and disappearing into the confines of the Portuguese changing room.
Without a club, without certainty of a future in the national team, Ronaldo seemed like an entity closing in on the final chapter of a once illustrious career. Enter Al Nassr. With one middle-east country taking away his dreams to be world champion, another stepped up to save his stagnating career.
Al Nassr would throw in a life jacket to Ronaldo when he was navigating through the waves of rejection after the termination of his contract at Manchester United, offering him a deal worth $200 million a year. This would make him the highest paid football player in the world. From the depths of despair, there rose a glimmer of hope.
This move by the Saudi-based club was not without intent and it showed how the Middle-Eastern countries are slowly but steadily emerging as the next global footballing powerhouses. After the recent success of the Qatar World Cup, this Ronaldo coup was a masterstroke. In securing Ronaldo's services, Al Nassr not only got one of the best players of the planet but also the brand value attached to him.
Even people who didn't have any idea about the existence of Al Nassr sat up and took notice as the legions of Ronaldo fans made sure that the signing had the necessary impact. To understand the impact that Ronaldo has had on the club's image you need not look very far as shortly after the 37-year-old's signing was made official, the club's Instagram page gained over 5.3 million new followers.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which routinely faces criticism due to its stringent rules and treatment of women, has been pulling out all stops to whitewash or sportswash its image in order to become a major player in the international sporting circle. The signing of a player of Ronaldo's stature is a giant leap in that direction.
And you can bet that this will not be the end. Recent reports have suggested that Al Nassr's fierce rivals Al Hilal and Al Itihad are willing to pay around 350 million euros per season to bring Lionel Messi to Saudi Arabia and have also asked for help from the government so that they can make the offer. It's worth mentioning here that Messi already has a pretty lucrative promotional deal with Saudi, a contract which he signed last year making him one of the ambassadors of The kingdom's tourist board. These steps were no coincidence but carefully calculated moves with an endgame in mind.
According to reports, Al Nassr are also weighing up moves to bring Marco Reus as well as Sergio Ramos in their fold. If they manage to pull these off, it will go a long way in establishing the middle-eastern countries as serious contenders in the vast footballing landscape.
Even before the blockbuster Ronaldo transfer, the middle-eastern countries were slowly dipping their toes in the vast pool of the sport with clubs like Manchester City, Paris-Saint Germain (PSG), and Sheffield United, all having owners from the gulf states. Newcastle became the latest to join this club (pun intended) in 2021 when the Saudi Arabia-led consortium, headed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), purchased it for over £300 million. Interestingly, PIF also played a role in Ronaldo's transfer as Al Nassr is backed by its subsidiary Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC).
The transfer of Ronaldo and the rampaging rumours of major names who could be on their way to Saudi Arabia have put the country and its neighbouring regions firmly on the map. Now, they have enough ammunition in their tanks to feasibly aim for their reported bid to host the 2030 World Cup with Greece and Egypt.