Cristiano Ronaldo plans to own ‘several’ football clubs once he retires

LISBON – Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who turned 40 on Feb 5, has said that he dreams of owning several clubs after retiring.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to be director of a club. If I can be a club owner, why would I be a coach, sporting director or CEO?” he said in an interview with Portuguese television channel Canal 11.

“I don’t want to be a coach in the future. I believe being a coach is even more difficult than being a football player. This (becoming a club owner) is my dream and I’m sure I’ll get there. I’ll even say more – I hope to not only have one club but to own several clubs.”

Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr in 2022

for an annual salary of around €$200 million (S$280.3 million), according to newspaper reports. Since then, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has expanded his portfolio of investments and business ventures, ranging from hotels to fitness brands as well as a stake in a Portuguese media company.

By investing in a football club, he would be following the footsteps of players like former Brazilian star Ronaldo Nazario, who owns a majority stake in Real Valladolid in Spain, and former England captain David Beckham, who is the co-owner of Inter Miami in the United States.

Ronaldo did not give any indication of when he plans to retire as he continues to represent his country and is set to renew his contract with Al-Nassr until June 2026 for another €200 million per year, according to Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola.

“I still like to train, it’s not the same as when I was 20 but I still feel the passion. My friends say you have no life at all. It’s true, but I like it, I know it will end, in one or two or three years, I don’t know. I don’t care about that either,” he added in the Canal 11 interview.

A decade ago, Ronaldo partnered the Pestana Hotel Group to create the Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels brand. These hotels are located in New York, Madrid, Lisbon, Marrakech and Funchal, according to the Pestana website.

His most recent investments include the acquisition of the Lisboa Racket Centre, a tennis and padel club in the Portuguese capital.

Ronaldo also bought a 10 per cent stake in Portuguese porcelain manufacturer Vista Alegre Atlantis in 2024, a year after joining a group of investors to buy a media company that owns Correio da Manha, one of Portugal’s most-read daily newspapers. BLOOMBERG