Of course, everyone knows Cristiano Ronaldo but not everyone knows that there's a lot more to him than football. He’s rich, extremely rich. In 2020, he was declared as the first footballer to reach a net worth of a billion dollars! But do you know that all of that money didn't come from football? In fact, about half of the money isn't from football.👀 Ronaldo has made more money from his personal brand than football itself.
You’d have to permit me today please; I am going to be bombarding you with a lot of pictures.
Ronaldo’s personal brand is CR7 and the brand’s history can be traced back to his early days in football when he was signed by Manchester United from Sporting CP in 2003. Manchester United watched Ronaldo humiliate John O'Shea with his dribbling and tricking skills on the ball in a friendly match and made a move for him.
Those dribbling and tricking abilities combined with accurate shooting precision with the ball is what made Ronaldo popular in the game of football. He broke many records and won many awards at the club and soon enough, brands began to come to him for sponsorship. The whole CR7 brand got its name and popularity from football but it didn't end there. Ronaldo took things further. He understood the market. He knew that they were in love with him so he used that as a bait to lure millions to patronize any brand he promoted. And as things progressed, he established the CR7 brand. A brand whose main goal is to promote many companies and organization using the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asides his abilities on the ball, Ronaldo’s elegance is another factor that made him so popular and influential. There is a way he does his things in a manner that is different from that of everyone else. The way he poses whenever he wants to play a free-kick, his beautiful haircuts, his flawlessly fit body with no tattoo, his goal celebration, his walk, and a lot more. Although many of these attributes are a reflection of the type of person he is, I do think that he does some of those things intentionally because he had a mission to make himself a favorite of many.
He knows how to call the attention of many people online. After every match he plays, there is usually a post from Ronaldo across all his social media pages and a lot of reactions always follow. He doesn't just post any random picture he gets, no, he does it technically and strategically. He posts images of his celebration, his scoring technique, his free-kick pose, or something fascinating he has done on the pitch. It's not just any picture anywhere. Ronaldo is currently the most followed individual on Instagram with over 400 million followers. On Twitter, he isn't the most followed but he has over 99 million followers. That's overwhelming, really overwhelming. What he has built for himself over the years is nothing short of legendary.
CR7 is big anywhere! On the pitch and off the pitch. It’s no wonder he has made so much money from both. His football career is one to wish for as he is currently being considered by many as the greatest footballer to ever grace the game and off the pitch, he is just as big.
If we are to discuss the number of brands that CR7 is their ambassador, we won't leave here today. The first was Nike and it is still the biggest in his cabinet till date with a total sponsorship value of one billion dollars! That’s just from a single brand. What if we add up the rest? What if we add his income from football? And many other bonuses he has gotten for scoring many goals and winning many trophies and awards? We might as well just write a book on that subject alone.😂
Interestingly, Ronaldo had a very humble beginning. He was from a poor background. I bet that no one in his family ever thought someone with their surname could be this big. Ronaldo is the pure definition of “hard work can take you anywhere if you invest enough time and resources in it.” In 2018 when Juventus signed Ronaldo at the age of 33, medical test results declared that he was as fit as a three year old child! That’s how hardworking Ronaldo is.
So if you are on the verge of giving up, remember that Cristiano Ronaldo was once a boy on the streets of Madeira, Portugal trying to feed because he barely got enough to eat at home.
I’ll see you in tomorrow's newsletter.🤗
Very impressive