Cristiano Ronaldo is officially back in Spanish football, after becoming a minority owner of UD Almeria. The former Real Madrid forward, who is currently playing with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, will be part of the ownership group, working alongside current President Mohamed Al-Khereji, who is part of the Saudi royal family.
Al-Khereji replaced Turki Al-Sheikh as the majority owner of Almeria last year, and declared an intention to return the Andalusian side to La Liga as swiftly as possible. He also has a club in the Saudi Pro League, with Ronaldo scoring a penalty against Al-Najma in a 5-0 win on Wednesday night.
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‘Almeria is a club with solid foundations’
The investment made by Ronaldo is under his company CR7 Sports Investments, which handle much of his business. It is not clear how much the deal cost, but Al-Khereji’s purchase of the club took place for €100m to become majority shareholder. The following statement was issued by Ronaldo through CR7 Sports Investments.
“I have always had the ambition to contribute to football beyond the pitch. UD Almería is a club with solid foundations and clear growth potential. I am truly excited to work alongside the management team to support the next phase of the club’s development.”
Image via Al-Nassr
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Al-Khereji also put out a statement on the investment, and cited his knowledge of Spanish football.
“We are delighted that Cristiano has chosen our club to invest in. He is considered the greatest player of all time, knows the Spanish leagues very well, and understands the potential of what we are building here, both in terms of the team and the academy.”
Ronaldo’s playing career: Not likely to end at Almeria
This week there had been some surprising rumours that Almeria were interested in signing Ronaldo, as per Diario AS, but it turns out that it was related to his purchase of the club rather than their purchase of him. That said, Indykaila have reported that Ronaldo is keen to return to European football at the top level, although after leaving Manchester United, he did not find an offer that he liked.
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Almeria currently sit third in Segunda, one point out from the automatic promotion places, and in the play-offs with 15 games to go. The Andalusian side were in La Liga as recently as 2024, but missed out on promotion last year through the play-offs.
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