Ronaldo can’t put a foot wrong with adoring public

Ronaldo can credit an unusually long playing career (still going strong at 40) and record-breaking contracts, with Nike and with his football teams. His latest deal with Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr is said to be worth $400m over two years.

Sports stars are notorious for taking bad financial advice, squandering their money on opening doomed bars and nightclubs, and falling for get-rich-quick scams. But Ronaldo has taken a series of smart decisions throughout his career, not just to maximise his earnings from employment but in building a diversified portfolio of investments in real estate (including branded hotels) and successfully protecting his image rights. Riding the rise of social media – he has a record-breaking 1bn followers – has helped build a global brand that he can reasonably hope to profit from long after he hangs up his boots.

True, there have been difficult moments along the way. Legal action was threatened over his involvement in crypto, after he launched a series of CR7-branded NFTs (digital art). His lucrative move to Saudi Arabia prompted some accusations of taking part in “sports-washing”.

Yet, benchmarked against other members of the billionaire club, Ronaldo remains incredibly popular and lightly criticised for his money making. As the public increasingly detests the mega-rich, the enduring love they have of “goldenballs”, whose fortune is built on sporting prowess, remains something of a mystery.

Photograph by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images