Cristiano Ronaldo has been declared football’s first billionaire after his staggering net worth was calculated, Daily Mail reports.
The 40-year-old is said to be worth £1.04bn after finance experts Bloomberg took a deep dive into his career earnings, investments and endorsement deals and they were all adjusted for prevailing tax rates and market performance, according to the report by Daily Mail.
They report that Ronaldo’s astronomical money in Saudi Arabia has ‘catapulted him to the top of the rankings for highest-earning sportspeople’.
He is the first footballer in their new Bloomberg Billionaires Index and they note that his wealth now significantly eclipses long-time rival Lionel Messi after the Argentine opted to move to the US with Inter Miami.
Ronaldo has a lifetime deal with Nike that is reported to be worth £745m in total – by far his biggest agreement with any company. There are partnerships with Tag Heur, Armani, PokerStars, Samsung, Unilever, Louis Vuitton and many, many more.
He is currently building an extraordinary, sprawling complex back home costing £28m, of which the lavish renderings have been shared and is often seen draped in the world’s most expensive jewellery and watches, including a Franck Muller Invisible Baguette Diamonds Imperial Tourbillon – worth £1.13m.
Ronaldo is making a remarkable £300-a-minute in Saudi Arabia but on Tuesday night admitted he wishes he could leave and only play for Portugal.
His paymasters at Al-Nassr splash out £167.9million-a-year on Ronaldo’s contract so may not be particularly pleased to hear he’d rather not be there.
Ronaldo also owns a stake in the club itself, boosting his astronomical net worth even more.
But international duty means more to Ronaldo than his lucrative club exploits, as he was happy to confirm on Tuesday evening while picking up the Globo Prestigio award for outstanding contribution to football in his homeland.
On stage at the FPF Arena Portugal in Oeiras, he said: ‘I’ve been with the national team for 22 years; I think that speaks for itself: the passion I have for wearing the jersey, for winning trophies, for playing for the national team.
‘I often say if I could, I would play football only for the national team, I wouldn’t play for any other club because it’s the culmination and the peak of a football player.’
Ronaldo is in remarkable physical condition and still performing at a high level aged 40.
But retirement isn’t coming any time soon, with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner adding: ‘I have a few trophies at home, but I have to say this one is special and beautiful. I have to confess that this afternoon I was at the table thinking about what I was going to say in this speech. I was thinking, “What is a Prestige Award? I wonder if it’s an end-of-career award”. I got a little nervous and thought, “It can’t be”, he joked.
‘I don’t see this trophy as the end of a career, but rather as a continuation of everything I’ve done, my entire career.
‘I’ve been with the national team for 22 years; I think that speaks for itself: the passion I have for wearing the jersey, for winning trophies, for playing for the national team.
‘I often say if I could, I would play football only for the national team, I wouldn’t play for any other club because it’s the culmination and the peak of a football player.’
‘I know you’re probably tired of seeing me here, at these ceremonies! But I think I still have a lot to contribute to the national team and to football. I want to keep playing for a few years, not many, I have to be honest.’
When that final match will come remains to be seen but ‘a few more years’ still seems an ambitious target despite his renowned dedication to conditioning.
He went on: ‘I want to thank all my teammates, for having learned from all of them – and even from this younger generation as well. For me, it’s a privilege to be with you. Our goal is to win the next two games and be in the World Cup.’
And while he is still driven, especially to reach 1000 career goals (currently 946), the football superstar says he is less ferociously driven than he used to be.
‘I’ll be honest: I don’t see it as an obsession. If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I might have answered differently, like I wanted to eat the world, but now I don’t see things that way. Age also allows us to think differently.’
Ronaldo’s longevity, of course, has only helped him add to his fortune, but he’s more than happy to splash to the cash he’s rolling in.
Ronaldo invested in a property on the Portuguese Riviera with the dream of building a ‘hospital-sized’ mansion in Quinta da Marinha – but the project is over two years behind schedule.
A number of CGI images of what the property might look like when completed have been shared by Ronaldo’s supporters, eager for a glimpse of the future, but for now, the project remains a building site, as well as a nuisance to his neighbours.