Cristiano Ronaldo is determined to play football until he is 40 – but few are as prepared for retirement as he is.
Ronaldo, 38, told Piers Morgan back in December that he wanted to continue playing for another two or three years, and that he has always seen 40 as a good age to conclude his professional career.
The Portuguese superstar footballer, currently playing in Saudi Arabia for Al-Nassr on a £175million-a-year deal, from the outside looking in appears ready for life in retirement.
While major moves could still be to come – he may seek the route of someone like basketball icon Michael Jordan and buy a sports team, or he may follow NFL great Tom Brady and go into the media – Ronaldo already has a plethora of options open to him once he hangs up his boots.
Sportsmail looks at some of the potential projects that could take up Ronaldo’s time in retirement.
Cristiano Ronaldo is now into the final years of his football career with retirement not far away
Ronaldo is currently playing in Saudi Arabia on a a £175million-a-year deal with Al-Nassr
PROPERTY PORTFOLIO
Ronaldo would be well within his rights to simply put his feet up in one of his glamorous properties when all is said and done with football.
He has a penchant for property and could well elect to expand his vast portfolio when he is retired.
Ronaldo is currently in the process of having what has been dubbed his ‘forever home’ built, to the tune of £17million on the Portuguese Riviera.
The house will sit on a large plot of land in Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, on the west coast of Portugal.
It is a highly prestigious, expensive area and numerous reports have Ronaldo and his family settling there once he is finished. .
But given his incredible wealth he has numerous options.
Ronaldo also owns a seven-storey apartment block in Funchal, Madeira, where his mother Dolores, 66, and brother Hugo live after he bought it two years ago.
He still owns a tucked-away villa in Turin, high in the mountains, from his time playing for Juventus. The two adjoining villas that make up the Turin mansion include a state-of-the-art gym, as well as a swimming pool and ample bedrooms and bathrooms.
A £4.8m mansion on a gated fortress estate called La Finca close to Madrid is also part of his stable, as is a stunning Marbella holiday home, which he picked up in 2019.
The Marbella home, built by developers the Otero Group, includes a built-in theatre, LED driveways, and an infinity pool.
In 2020 during the Covid pandemic Ronaldo also splashed out on the most expensive flat ever sold in Lisbon, paying £6.5m for a state-of-the-art 3,100-square foot pad in Avenida da Liberdade.
Last year he elected to sell up – albeit at an £8.5m loss – at his nine-bedroom luxury Trump Tower apartment in New York. So if he does go into buying and selling property, he’s going to have to learn to find a bargain or two.
Ronaldo is months away from having his ‘forever home’ – a £17m project on Portuguese Riviera
Ronaldo bought a large plot of land in Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, back in September last year
Ronaldo is planning to settle down with his family at his new mansion when he does retire
One of the most obvious avenues for a steady income without much hassle for Ronaldo is through a multitude of lucrative brand deals.
As the most followed person on Instagram he is one of the most marketable men on the planet.
With 548 million followers he has immense influence and can charge extortionate fees for businesses to get a piece of his page – as he should.
Ronaldo has a lifetime contract with Nike – he became only the third athlete in the US sportswear giant’s history to receive one – and boasts dozens more agreements that will no doubt keep him busy.
The likes of Armani, Clear, Castrol, Tag Heuer, Egyptian Steel, Herbalife, Italia Independent and PokerStars have all previously been endorsed by Ronaldo.
More recent tie-ups include LiveScore, MEO, ZujuGP, Uniecampus, and Therabody.
In October last year Ronaldo was unsurprisingly named the most marketable athlete on the planet, ahead old rival Lionel Messi, Serena Williams, Lewis Hamilton and LeBron James.
Athletes were ranked according to a ‘Marketability Score’, which is split into three distinct scoring components: brand strength, economics and audience.
Designed to accurately evaluate an athlete’s marketability, the ranking is not just based on social media followership or reach, but also takes into account an athlete’s social impact, charitable endeavours and influence on the triple bottom line.
Ronaldo was named the most marketable athlete after commanding a ‘marketability score’ of 91.21 out of a possible 100.
Last year Forbes estimated his on-pitch earnings stood at $60m, while his off-pitch earnings was a tick behind at $55m. If Ronaldo really wants to do anything and everything he will make an even greater fortune in retirement.
Ronaldo is viewed as one of the world’s most marketable men given his social media reach
He promotes an array of products on his page and would make a fortune even when retired
Lots of posts on his Instagram page are duly tagged as ‘paid partnership’ – earning a fortune
If brand deals do not appeal to him he can dedicate all of his time to his business empire.
As well as his own underwear line, Ronaldo has a major stake in the hotel industry in partnership with Pestana Hotels, now known as Pestana CR7.
He has hotels in Lisbon, another in his hometown of Funchal, while there are also sites in Madrid, Marrakech and New York.
The hotel in Funchal is particularly important to Ronaldo given his museum is attached and the hotel is themed on him.
Expanding the hotel empire is certainly an option when he retires – as is doing more for the gyms he owns, or the multiple hair transplant clinics, called Insparya, that he possesses.
If he is satisfied with his number of hair clinics and hotels, he also has the potential to grow his partnership with American health brand Crunch, who delivered the ‘CR7 Fitness’ gym in Madrid back in 2016.
The gym group’s website lists more than 300 facilities open globally.
As part of his ever-expanding lifestyle brand he has CR7 Eyewear, CR7 Footwear, CR7 Underwear and CR7 Fragrances.
CR7 Underwear is one of the four elements that make up his lucrative CR7 lifestyle brand
Perhaps Ronaldo decides to put his time into family and philanthropy and he has shown himself to be incredibly generous to charity throughout his career.
Back in 2015, dosomething.org recognised Ronaldo as ‘the most charitable sports star in the world’.
Ronaldo, who has helped the likes of UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children in the past, has a long history of charitable moves.
In 2016 it was announced he was co-opting a project to fund the building of a paediatric hospital in Santiago, Chile.
In that same year he auctioned off a replica of his 2013 Ballon d’Or trophy for £600,000, with the proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish foundation at a dinner in London.
Also in 2016 he donated food, medical care and clothing to Save the Children for an emergency dispatch to help children in war-torn Syria.
Ronaldo has donated thousands to cancer research and famously paid for a brain operation for a 10-month-old baby in 2014, to prevent the child from having up to 30 seizures a day.
More recently, in 2021, Ronaldo joined forces with Nike to restore a decrepit football pitch in Funchal, while also funding 24 scholarships to the eCampus Universita.
And so while Ronaldo may elect to go down the route of more properties or more supercars, he has shown a desire to use his money and influence for good, which may see him lean even more heavily on the charity arm of his life outside of football.
‘My father always taught me that when you help other people, then God will give you double,’ Ronaldo said in 2013.
‘And that’s what has really happened to me. When I have helped other people who are in need, God has helped me more.’
Source: dailymail.co.uk
