When Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Saudi Arabia and joined Al-Nassr at the beginning of 2023, all eyes were on the Middle Eastern country to see how the Portuguese international and one of football's greatest ever players would fare in a less-fancied league.
Al-Nassr, which means ‘victory’ in Arabic, jumped from 800,000 followers on Instagram to more than 14 million, with the club's kit showing up in places all over the world.
Ronaldo's reported contract sees him earn £173 million a year while playing in the Saudi Pro League, and while many were intrigued to see his impact, Abdulmajeed Al-Arrak, a lifelong Al-Nassr fan, was perhaps a little more sceptical. Since Ronaldo's arrival, though, he has changed his mind.
“There’s no question in my mind that he’s raised the bar,” Al-Arrak tells FourFourTwo. “I’ve watched Al-Nassr for a long time, I’ve seen managers and players come and go; too often it looked like players were just here to pick up a cheque and, honestly, I feared that could be exactly the same with Ronaldo.”
Ronaldo’s cheque may be unfathomably large, but his desire to win has matched it.
“What I thought about Cristiano was a big mistake,” Al-Arrak confesses. “He’s shown commitment, even from his first friendly. He’s still eager to win every game, eager to break records. You can see the emotion on his face. He wants to give everything and rewrite history here.”
Saudi journalist Khaled Al Arafah concurs, suggesting the level in the Saudi Pro League has noticeably improved with Ronaldo's arrival. According to him, players are trying that much harder to stop the 38-year-old in games, leading to a rise in quality across the board.
“When the Al-Nassr players see Cristiano training, they try to match his massive levels of dedication,” Al Arafah tells FFT. “It’s about confidence. Watch them before and now, you can see how much they’ve improved and are genuinely giving their all.
“The same goes for opponents, too. I spoke to Luiz Gustavo recently and he told me that since Ronaldo’s arrival, most of the teams are giving 200 per cent when they take on Al-Nassr. That makes sense. When you play a game and you know people are watching you around the world, you give everything. It makes Saudi Pro League matches better.”
However, Chris McHardy, a radio presenter for Dubai Eye 103.8 and commentator for the United Arab Emirates Pro League, says more than just Ronaldo is needed in the Saudi Pro League league to increase its popularity for a prolonged period of time.
Lionel Messi has recently been linked with a move there, while others such as Sergio Busquets and Luka Modric could also see the final days of their playing career out alongside, or against, Ronaldo. Regardless, for McHardy there's no danger of the Saudi Pro League usurping the Premier League for popularity any time soon.
“It was a big deal for a couple of weeks, but interest has largely fizzled out now,” McHardy says. “The heavyweight European clubs retain a stranglehold on fans’ attention here. If the Champions League is on, that will still dominate – it’ll take a lot more than Cristiano Ronaldo to change that.”
