Premier League - Ronaldo's £106m pay bonanza

Eurosport - Fri, 12 Jun 14:10:00 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to earn £106 million from his six-year deal at Real Madrid, with a mind-boggling final salary of £556,000-a-week.

2008 Cristiano Ronaldo - 0

The Portuguese star is on the verge of a move to the Bernabeu after Manchester United accepted a world record £80m bid for him on Thursday.

He will discuss a contract with the Spanish giants when he returns from holiday in Los Angeles, and will land the biggest contract in football history.

Real are expected to offer a structured deal starting at £183,000-a-week, but with a 25 per cent rise every season seeing his pay soar above half a million pounds every week in the final year of his contract.

Based on current exchange rates, Ronaldo's will be the fifth-largest contract in sports history behind four baseball deals.

The biggest belongs to Alex Rodriguez, who signed a 10-year, $275m (£167m) deal with the New York Yankees in 2008, equating to an average annual salary of £16.7m; slightly less than Ronaldo.

Rodriguez's previous $252m (£153m) contract with the Texas Rangers comes in at number two, while A-Rod's Yankees team-mates Derek Jeter ($189/10 years) and Mark Teixeira ($180m/eight years) both exceed Ronaldo, whose likely £106m contract is worth $174m.

Football's highest earner is David Beckham, who rakes in £27m per year, but only £4m comes from his club LA Galaxy; the rest is sponsorship and merchandising.

Ronaldo was fourth on a recently-published France Football list of the sport's highest earners behind Beckham, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho, but he can expect his £15.5m total earnings from 2008 to increase significantly following his move to Madrid.

Ronaldo's possible £556,000-a-week wage in the last year of his contract works out at:

£79,428 a day

£3,309 an hour

£55 a minute

92p per second

Or, if Real Madrid play two games in a week:

£51.48 per second on the pitch.

What can Ronaldo buy with his total £106m Real Madrid contract?

- A Big Mac for every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom.

- 530 new Ferrari 599 GTBs, like the one he wrote off in a crash earlier this year.

- Himself, with enough change for Carlos Tevez.

- Newcastle United Football Club.

- 588,000 hours in a tanning salon.

- 34,754,098 tubes of Brylcreem wet look hair gel.

- 42,400 ceiling mirrors.

- The most expensive house in Los Angeles, which belongs to TV producer Aaron Spelling, a three-story mansion with 56,500 square feet of space and a 4.6 acre estate.

- 163,077 bottles of Cristal champagne for himself and Paris Hilton at Hollywood nightspot My House.

- 26,500,000 inflatable donkeys.

- 10,610,610 pairs of Cristiano Ronaldo pyjamas.

- 706,666,667 telephone votes for Cristiano Ronaldo as Overseas Sports Personality of 2009.

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Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 553 - 572 of 572

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  1. don't be naive. its business. nothing else.­ brazilian genes.

    From scotty, on Sun 14 Jun 6:12AM

  2. OTHER PEOPLE NEED THAT TYPE OF MONEY

    ESPICALLY IN­ THESE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

    FOOTBALLERS ARE OVER PAYED

    From haidar, on Sat 13 Jun 11:12PM

  3. f.jones321 ...if u where a man u fan and now ur a Real­ fan...that means u where never a fan at all !!! being a­ fan is not about 1 player...its about the team ! any1­ can tell u this...wether its a Liverpool fan or a­ Newcastle fan

    From man, on Sat 13 Jun 9:32PM

  4. Thats still less than the euromillions win of £113­ million. I better start playing the lottery lol

    From Supergosey S, on Sat 13 Jun 4:40PM

  5. Real must be crazy to offer so much to this guy. He is­ an excellent player but there are better players in­ Europe. Fergie has done the business again and Man U­ will come out from this deal winners. AGAIN !!

    From martin s, on Sat 13 Jun 3:49PM

  6. All this @#$% about with that money you could do this­ feed all these people, if it wasnt for coporate greed­ and people like the UK and US spending Billion and­ Billions on wars and nuclear weapons every year the­ could spend that money on hospitals Education jobs for­ people born in the uk or US, kind of makes 80 mill for­ a footballer seem like chicken feed go and cry about­ world poverty on a differnt page that has nothing to do­ with sports.

    From Don, on Sat 13 Jun 2:06PM

  7. Roma striker Mirko Vucinic insists he wants to remain­­­ at the Stadio Olimpico despite reported interest from­­­ Manchester United.

    Reports coming out of Spain­­­ suggest that Real Madrid (yes, them again) have all­­ but­ wrapped up the signing of Valencia striker David­­ Villa­ for 40m euros.

    Hahaha so much for big players­­ signing­ who is Vucinci, do you think Madrid will give­­ 80 mill­ in 1 go I dont prob about30mill and the rest­­ over 2-3­ years, you wont attract big player with the­­ better tax­ rate for high earners in Spain fact. U­­ think u can sign 3 world class players lmfao lets see­­ who u lot get in the next few weeks MUGS just sold­ your­ best player to that MOB­ hahahahahahahahahah­
    hahahahahahahahahahah
    ahahahahahah­ ahahahahahahahhaha

    From Don, on Sat 13 Jun 2:03PM

  8. i was a man utd fan now im a real madrid fan =]

    From f.jones321, on Sat 13 Jun 1:25PM

  9. It is simply outrageous and unbelievable that in the­ current global recession a club has such an amount to­ pay to a sportsman to be kicking ball about on a field.­ Take one minute and reflect on parts of Africa, Asia­ and even Europe, the millions of children, the poor­ and the aged who are dying because they simply­ cann't afford one meal in a day and all this­ amountis paid to one man. The world has certainly gone­ mad! The game itself lacks competitive balance. The­ richer clubs will continue to rotate the silver wares­ while the poor clubs just add up to the numbers for the­ sake of the game. Real Madrid should be ashamed of this­ act!

    From atintono, on Sat 13 Jun 12:56PM

  10. i agree with leanne p. i think that with all that money­ he is earning u could help loads of people worldwide­ and not jus for the financial crisis buh he could give­ part of his earnings to the poor and stuff. you dont­ need that much. uts 1000-4000 a month u can liove on u­ dnt need 400,000 a month tha money jus goeas to waste­ on stuff he wount even use.

    From tomosprosser, on Sat 13 Jun 11:58AM

  11. I'd like to opt out of the free Big Mac deal as I­ don't like MacDonald's @#$% food.

    Thanks for­ the offer though Cris, it was mighty nice of you.

    From Loz, on Sat 13 Jun 11:24AM

  12. pathetic!!! the whole world is in a f***ing crisis, no­ man is worth that much money, especially a little t**t­ who put us out of the 2006 world cup, yep i'm still­ bitter about that, lol

    From leanne p, on Sat 13 Jun 11:17AM

  13. He will come back to hurt Sir Alex F. Utd with his­ cheating. Sir A. F. watch out. lol
    Gunners 4 life

    From NICE GUY, on Sat 13 Jun 10:48AM

  14. The price of players these days is disgusting, £5.40­ for 20, it's daylight robbery!

    From thelaws62000, on Sat 13 Jun 10:32AM

  15. i was a man utd fan but know i m a madrid

    From ninapha, on Sat 13 Jun 10:24AM

  16. well i think they are idiot's for paying that much­ for a cheater, he's a good player but when he­ doesnt get his way he has a tantrum, he's like a­ little kid.

    From Dale, on Sat 13 Jun 10:20AM

  17. I must agree with eileenbunch1945! As stated we are in­ a recession right now and ultimatley first time buyers­ can't get a mortgage etc because they can't get­ credit from the banks! Real Madrid are debted up to­ thier eye balls yet they are allowed to BORROW £136­ million to spend on two footballers! For me that is­ the reason we are in a recession, fat greedy bankers,­ business men what ever! It's disgusting and we foot­ the bill!

    From fkmclean, on Sat 13 Jun 10:20AM

  18. Amazing... GO REAL MADRID!!!

    From Alex, on Sat 13 Jun 9:51AM

  19. I think some people are missing the point. Much as i am­ jealous of that sort of money, who wouldn't be !!! ­ This is just market forces at work and thus this is­ what the top start can expect to earn THIS YEAR.­ Football like many other entertainment businesses is­ now GLOBAL and that is where the money comes from.­ Millions of people young and old are aware and watch­ Ronaldo playing. In that way if one is to look at this­ positively he his the role model for millions of young­ boys who want to be like him, which in turn strengthens­ football !!! The downside of all of this is that there­ is potentially less attention for the smaller clubs as­ global attention is now with the big clubs and the very­ best players.

    From andy, on Sat 13 Jun 9:48AM

  20. sergeisdiary - I think the point is that most business­ men take years to get to the point where they are that­ wealthy, 10, sometimes even 20 years if they grow it­ from scratch (i.e. Richard Brandson & Virgin) and­ they earn the most if the company is floated on the­ stock exchange.

    However, footballers earn more per­ hour than those businessmen because they earn it­ quicker. £106m over 6 years is obscene. Quite where the­ business plan is to spend £80 buying him and then spend­ £17.6m a year on him, obviously if he then retires at­ the end they get nothing back from him.

    How on earth­ can they make money out of that - they can't. Even­ if they win everything for the next 6 years (not to­ mention they've spent £50m on Kaka as well).­

    Football is starting to turn into a millionaire's­ plaything, its not sport any more.

    From Steve, on Sat 13 Jun 9:45AM
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