On December 30, 2022, Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo officially joined the Saudi club Al Nassr in the Saudi Arabian league, where he made history by wearing the team’s jersey. Cristiano joined the second club with the most titles in the Saudi league for two seasons, where several Latin Americans are active, including Colombian David Ospina and Brazilian Luiz Gustavo.

Al Nassr, a club from the first division of Saudi Arabia that was little known internationally until a few days ago, said they were proud of the arrival of Ronaldo, who has gone through the most critical international clubs in the world and has had a high profile in Manchester United before the World Cup in Qatar.

The Al Nassr team is based in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and the country’s top soccer division, the Saudi Professional League, in which 16 teams play. It was formed in 1955 and since then it has won nine national titles, which makes it the second team with the most titles in the professional league after Al Hilal, another team from the capital, which has won the most titles in that league: 18.

Ronaldo will play at home with Al Nassr at the Mrsool Park stadium, which has a capacity of 25,000 people. The team, which has gained millions of followers on social networks since the news of Ronaldo’s arrival, has been led since June this year by Frenchman Rudy García, 57, who has gone through European teams such as Lille, AS Roma, Olympique Marseille, and Olympique Lyonnais.

The Portuguese, who has more than 800 goals between clubs and the international team, is one of the few international stars that Al Nassr has. As by rule, clubs in the Saudi league can only register eight foreign players, and only seven can play in one day. Ronaldo is expected to join other international players such as Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilians Luiz Gustavo and Tallisca, Argentinean Pity Martínez, Ivorian defender Ghislain Konan and Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar, the latter of which who scored the game-winning goal for his team against Serbia and stunned Brazil in their last group game in Qatar. Currently, Al Nassar is the leader of the Saudi League with 26 points after 11 games in which they have scored 25 goals. This season’s top scorer is Brazilian Talisca, who Ronaldo could unseat if the Portuguese perform well in the league.

After playing in the European leagues, Ronaldo could participate this year in the Champions League, which was previously known as the Asian Club Championship, a tournament in which Al Nassr finished as runner-up in their best performance in 1995.

Ronaldo could help his new team reach the most prestigious international club tournament in Asia if it wins the local league and manages to advance to the group stage of the 2023-2024 season that will start in September 2023.