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3 min readFeb 7, 2026 10:28 AM IST
Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr. (PHOTO: Al Nassr via X)
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was left out by Al-Nassr from their squad for the second Saudi Pro League game in a row in a move that raises questions about his future at the club. Despite Ronaldo missing from their ranks, Al-Nassr overpowered defending champions Al-Ittihad 2-0 on Friday in a critical game of the SPL, thanks to goals from Sadio Mane and Angelo Gabriel.
A report in the BBC stated that Al-Nassr fans expressed their support for Ronaldo by raising yellow signs featuring his name and number seven in the seventh minute of the match.
Meanwhile, media reports in the UK stated that the Saudi Pro League was ready to offload Ronaldo for a sum of £43 million after the Portuguese superstar rebelled and raised a stink about his club not being given enough backing in the transfer window by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns three other clubs, Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad. Ronaldo’s grouse is that Al Hilal managed to poach Karim Benzema from Al Ittihad, but Al-Nassr have only managed to buy a young Iraqi midfielder Hayder Abdulkareem in the January window.
A report in Sky Sports had noted that Benzema’s move to Al Hilal was bankrolled by a private billionaire Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rather than the league or the PIF. Al Nassr, meanwhile, have not been constrained by the PIF from signing more players with the backing of private investors like Al Hilal have with Benzema.
Ronaldo had missed the game against Al-Riyadh on Monday despite being fully fit as he demonstrated by attending a training session before the Al-Ittihad game.
Ronaldo being frozen out of the team for a second time in a week came after the league posted an emphatic statement about how “no player was bigger than the league”. The statement had not named Ronaldo.
“The Saudi Pro League is structured around a simple principle: Every club operates independently under the same rules,” the league said in the statement. “Clubs have their own boards, executives and football leadership. Decisions on recruitment, spending and strategy rest with those clubs, within a financial framework designed to ensure sustainability and competitive balance. That framework applies equally across the league.”
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