Cristiano Ronaldo is undeniably one of the all-time football greats. However, he is not the world’s richest athlete, nor is he the world’s most profitable celebrity, but he is the world’s most-followed public figure on Instagram. No doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo is a man of his own worth.
What makes Ronaldo that rich? Surely, despite being a world-renowned athlete, his paycheck is not enough to sustain millions of dollars’ worth of cash flow. While his career as a professional sportsman remains as his main source of income to this day, Ronaldo has managed to successfully utilize his reputation and success as a superstar athlete in other areas outside the soccer field, thus making him not only one of the most valuable but also one of the most lucrative sportsmen in his generation.
That $450 million did not just come out of nowhere and it all started in the field he has dominated for years – soccer. Born and raised in Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro started playing football at a young age and became part of the country’s national team. His career breakthrough, however, took place when he joined Manchester United and became the team’s first Portuguese player. His first deal with Manchester United was announced to be £12.25 million (approximately $15.6 million). He signed another five-year contract with the team for $31 million.
After extending his contract with Manchester United, Ronaldo left and signed a $150 million deal with Real Madrid in 2009. Playing for Real Madrid not only bumped his income to the hundred-million-dollar mark, but his career also took off as he set and broke records and received numerous awards, thus prompting his name to rise among the ranks of valuable players in the world of international football. In July 2018, Ronaldo bid Real Madrid goodbye and moved to Italian club Juventus for a reportedly $138 million four-year contract – a wage cut compared to what he was getting before leaving Real Madrid. Still, his 2019 income according to Forbes is still at $109 million, which made him the second-highest-paid athlete of the year behind fellow soccer icon, Lionel Messi.
0 Comments