No swag, but Ronaldo puts swagger in Saudi football

Nassr’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (L) gestures as Nassr’s Saudi goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah (C) and Nassr’s Saudi defender Sultan al-Ghanam (R) look on during the Saudi Pro League football match between Al-Nassr and Al-Ettifaq at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam on May 27, 2023. (Photo by – / AFP)

Cristiano Ronaldo’s first season in Saudi Arabia ended with a whimper, but with hundreds of millions in wages and unprecedented attention on Saudi football he may not be the last megastar to grace the oil-rich kingdom.

The fireworks and euphoria that greeted Ronaldo’s gala unveiling in January were in sharp contrast to the close of Al Nassr’s season, when the Portuguese sat out a 3-0 win against Al Fateh late on Wednesday.

Despite signing the five-time Ballon d’Or-winner in a two-and-a-half-year deal said to total 400 million euros ($428 million), Al Nassr finished second in the Saudi Pro League without any silverware, although they qualified for the Asian Champions League as a consolation.

“I expected to win something this year, but we didn’t,” Ronaldo said in an interview broadcast on the Saudi Pro League’s social media channels.

“But next year I am really positive and confident that things will change, and we go in a better way.”

Ronaldo scored 14 goals in his 16 games, racking up 1,701 minutes on the pitch. But it was a “disappointing season” for Al Nassr, the favourite team of some senior Saudi royals, said Al Riyadiah newspaper’s editor-in-chief Moqbel Al-Zabni.

“They needed at least one championship,” he said.

Fan frustrations aside, however, the 38-year-old remains a marketing coup for Saudi football and the wider country, which is attempting to reinvent itself as a magnet for tourism and foreign