Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Soccer Saga Is Turning Sour
It’s a parable of the importance of adjusting to unfamiliar cultures — and of the limits of sportswashing.
Look at me … please!
Photographer: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images EuropeWhen Cristiano Ronaldo joined the Saudi Professional Football League early in 2023, soccer fans and commentators everywhere lamented that the Portuguese superstar was tarnishing his legacy. Although the contract he signed with Al Nassr club, reportedly worth more than $200 million a year, would make him the world’s highest-paid athlete, he would be playing many leagues below the standard befitting one of the greatest athletes to ever have kicked a ball.
At the time the deal was announced, Ronaldo, 37, was a little long in the tooth for a soccer player. But he was in terrific shape and, in the previous season, had been the top goal-scorer for the storied English club Manchester United, playing in the world’s best league. He was more than capable of skipping past the world’s best defenders, but he seemed to be copping out for cash. In Sports Illustrated, Jonathan Wilson, one of the sport’s preeminent writers, bemoaned that “there is something undignified” about the Portuguese star choosing to end his career in a Saudi sinecure.