January 10, the French "L’Equipe" reported that Ronaldo could earn 400 million euros in Saudi Arabia, of which 200 million euros came from helping Saudi Arabia bid for the 2030 World Cup.
"Team Daily" pointed out that Riyadh Victory and other Saudi clubs did not have enough funds to sign such a contract. With the support of the Saudi royal family, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund provided the funds to sign Ronaldo.
Established in 1971, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, with estimated total assets of at least US$500 billion.
It is worth mentioning that, according to relevant information, Ronaldo’s home country, Portugal, will have a total GDP of 249.9 billion US dollars in 2021, which is only half of the total assets of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
In 2021, a consortium led by PIF acquired the Premier League club Newcastle United.