How Does Cristiano Ronaldo Make Money?

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the best football players in the world over the past decade, owning bold goals and a series of prestigious titles. Not only that, with his own business and brand ability, CR7 is also one of the best money-making players in the world. So how did the Portuguese superstar build his huge fortune? Let's find out with ANZFootball and enjoy more live football on tv here!

Contracts worth billions of pounds with brands

Ronaldo started playing professionally in 2002. He gradually made his name when playing for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United live on tv, Real Madrid and Juventus respectively. And after more than 10 years of playing, Ronaldo became the best money-making player thanks to his name.

Forbes' statistics show that Cristiano Ronaldo received $105M in income in 2019. Thereby, he officially reached an income of $1 billion in his entire career, becoming the first player in the history of world football to reach this income milestone. This includes salary, bonuses plus sponsorship and other commercial contracts.

In 2021-2022, Ronaldo earned $115M, becoming the third highest-earning athlete in the world on Forbes' prestigious list. Besides, he is also the player with the highest income from outside football in the world with $60M earned from advertising contracts, and valuable brand ambassadors. Statistics from HopperHQ show that Cristiano Ronaldo has signed contracts with 31 sponsors and the proceeds from this cooperation make him the highest-earning athlete on the planet.

Ronaldo is the third athlete to be signed by Nike for life with a contract worth up to one billion pounds. This is considered a step in the right direction by both sides. Although the detailed terms of the contract above are not disclosed, according to many sources, the new agreement between Ronaldo and Nike is equal to the value of Lebron James's lifetime contract worth one billion pounds with America's famous sports equipment manufacturer.

With Nike, the world's sports giant also benefits greatly from the CR7's reputation. According to some sources, in 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo had 1703 posts on social media, received 2.25 billion interactions. In which, there are 347 times Ronaldo posted with the obvious appearance of Nike products or mentioned it directly. These popular sports product posts receive 477 million interactions and could bring in nearly £442 million in revenue for Nike.
In addition to the $1 billion lifetime contract with Nike, the Portuguese striker also owns lucrative contracts with Herbalife, DAZN, MTG, Clear shampoo, Abbott, and Unilever. CR7 is considered the golden face in the world of advertising.

Building a personal brand

Getting expensive advertising contracts is not a stroke of luck. It comes entirely from the Portuguese superstar's image-building efforts on social media sites. With a large number of fans, each post of world-famous stars on social networks such as FB or Instagram will reach many Internet users.

Therefore, brands often hire stars to advertise their products on social networks and pay these stars a huge amount of money. The world's top stars like Ronaldo also take advantage of their Instagram followers to earn huge amounts of money.

In addition to posting personal images on Instagram, CR7 also regularly posts images with a certain product or brand, either directly or indirectly. These products will also impress Instagram users, so that they can know and use the products.

Most recently, the striker of the Portuguese team has just become the first person to have more than 500 million followers on Instagram. This proves Ronaldo's intense charisma and brand value. According to HopperHQ, in 2022, Ronaldo will earn an average of $2.3M for each promotional article he publishes. to Instagram, up from the $1.6M a post average the star earned last year. This is the second year in a row that Ronaldo leads the list of stars who earn the most money from an Instagram post.

Expensive contract with Al Nassr club

Recently, with the joining of Al Nassr club, Ronaldo continues to receive terrible treatment from the Saudi Arabian club. Ronaldo's contract lasts until 2025. This is also the first time he plays for a team outside of Europe.

Specifically, after the end of the contract, Ronaldo will take on the role of ambassador at Al Nassr, and CR7's salary here is said to be about 200M euros a year.

Encroaching into business

More importantly, Ronaldo has encroached on the business of many products and after succeeding with an underwear brand called CR7. Now he has a wide range of products: CR7 shirts, CR7 shoes and CR7 perfumes.

Most recently, the Portuguese star has partnered with the Pestana hotel group, one of the largest hospitality businesses in his hometown. Pestana CR7 is Ronaldo's hotel business name. Previously, the Portuguese superstar opened four CR7 hotels in Madeira, Lisbon, New York and Madrid. And with the opening of one more hotel at the end of March 2022, there are a total of 5 hotels built and invested by Ronaldo and the Pestana hotel group.

With an excited voice, CR7 asserted:

When we opened our first hotel in partnership with the Pestana group in 2016, our ambition was to create an international brand. We are very pleased that the hotel network is expanding, especially as the 5th hotel in Marrakech comes into operation very well.

In the extremely challenging and risky business arena, Ronaldo has a team of consultants who are economists, businesses are always sensitive to the times. Mutually beneficial. Entrepreneurs who are smart and good in the market contribute their brains, while Ronaldo contributes to his reputation and money with his playing style and spread.

Ronaldo also invested in 10 hair transplant clinics called Insparya in many big cities like Madrid, Lisbon and Valencia. The first center opened in 2019 in Madrid was run by CR7 for his girlfriend Georgina Rodríguez. This business is currently valued by Forbes at a whopping £85 million. Sharing his decision to invest in the hair transplant industry, Ronaldo said: Hair loss is a huge problem in Europe and around the world. We want to help people boost their self-esteem and not feel ashamed to come to us.

In an interview, Cristiano Ronaldo revealed his career plans after retiring from football. CR7 shared that he wanted to join the film industry, especially the movie business after his retirement:

Until I retire I think I will live well. Living well is not about money, but because I will have the opportunity to try new things. For example, filmmaking. This plan has been prepared by me since I was 27, 28 years old. I have been preparing for a long time. I have a good team of collaborators in the company who have already started building good plans for the future. With football I will still be wholehearted. And I know football is still waiting for me.

Smart investment and ambition to get rich

Ronaldo's ambition to get rich is admirable. Besides the business, CR7 is involved in variable capital investment companies valued at 14 million euros, as well as several multinational enterprises such as Apple and Volkswagen. He also decided to invest in buying an airline company specializing in aircraft leasing.

It is not wrong to say that he is an excellent player, but that is not enough because CR7 is also a good businessman and investor. CR7's assets are being accumulated gradually over time. Experts believe that, even without football later, the 37-year-old superstar can still pocket a lot of money thanks to the process of investing in real estate and the perfume business. That guarantees him a regal life.

The ability to foresight and manage finances

Ronaldo simply knows the vision. He did not allow himseft to fall into temptation, and then fail his career. When there is money, CR7 wants to invest more, taking advantage of the CR7 brand to create more product lines, thereby having more income off the pitch with huge profits.
On the pitch, Ronaldo is a professional model for young players to follow. In real life, he is a good businessman and smart financial management. Although he is a real player with an expensive car collection with the trendiest products from Bugatti, Lamborghini and Ferrari, as well as a private jet worth nearly 40 million euros, CR7 has never spent extravagantly.

It can be said that Ronaldo is the ideal model in the sports world. Considering the concept of a modern player, he is excellent on the field and is a top football player. Besides, the Portuguese superstar also has a business mind. And that is how Cristiano became one of the richest athletes in the world with an admirable accumulation.