Cristiano Ronaldo is set to become the first footballer to earn more than $1 billion in career. He recently took a 4 million euro pay cut at Juventus in a move to ease the impact of the coronavirus.
The Portuguese superstar is to join an elite list of sports personalities to cross huge landmark — after golfer Tiger Woods, who crossed the billion-dollar mark in 2009, and boxer Floyd Mayweather, who hit the magic number in 2017.
According to Forbes, the pay cut hardly affects on the Portuguese captain’s annual earnings, and he had earned a staggering $109 million last year. A further 30 per cent wage cut is due because of the pandemic but Ronaldo could still have an estimated annual earning of $46 million.
The earnings he receives from his sponsorship deals and his product-line with CR7 Brands could help take his earnings this year close to the $100 million mark once again. This would help take him past the $1 billion in total earnings over an 18-year career.
In fact his Nike endorsement itself could worth as much as $1 Billion. The Ronaldo-Nike partnership started in 2003, as Portuguese joined Manchester United, before moving to Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid in 2009. He played for Real for nine seasons, winning many accolades. Ronaldo has worn 60 different kinds of Nike cleats over 17 years. He was only third to LeBron James and Michael Jordan, who had lifetime deal with $35-billion-in-revenue sports giant.
The 35-year-old is currently in his hometown of Madeira as the football season in Italy and around the world shuddered to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.
