Cristiano Ronaldo, King of Riyadh, a whim of Arabia and a pinch of 300,000 million to invest: "It is part of Vision 2030"

• Cristiano Ronaldo reunion and a special visit to Real Madrid training in Riyadh: "Good finale, huh!

• Transfer The impossible gold of Cristiano Ronaldo in Ali Baba's cave: errors, influences and betrayals on the way to Arabia

The

that experienced the

a year ago is not the

of January 2023. It is still dust, sand and asphalt on an immense piece of land in the middle of the desert because that is its essence, not its charm, but its reality has changed.

«

», say its citizens, «but the city seems different, there are many more leisure options».

A leisure limited to restaurants and clothing stores that in recent years has also leaned towards sports.

And that is where the name and surnames of the great attraction of this beginning of the year in

appear :

.

The latest whim of a country that insists on using sport to

abroad and that it has already spent more than a billion on it.

And what remains.

Whatever it takes.

"

!"

The posters welcoming the Portuguese after his signing by

flooded all the streets of the Saudi capital last week, went around the world and put Riyadh at the center of the media map.

And seven days later, the '

' has given way to the caprice of the Super Cup.

There are no longer images of Cristiano in the city center, nor in

, where the Saudi team plays its games, not even in his sports city, where he visited

yesterday .

Nothing.

Only in the club store are

De él.

Size M and L, the most common, have been exhausted, but they remain as a child.

The price?

... «

!

(Everything sold)”, they tell us.

But in the rest of the city it is as if suddenly it no longer exists.

This is how whims work.

Yesterday Cristiano, today the

and in a week, when

comes to play in Riyadh against Ronaldo, madness again.

Dakar, F1, MotoGP, golf, cycling...

"It's a great image for the country, but in the end

," says Haid, who has insisted on going all over the city with his taxi in search of Cristiano's posters: "A week ago everything was full.

In a month everyone will forget about him and we will

.

Formula 1, golf... Whatever.

This is how it works », he admits, and he is right.

It is the same Arabia that hallucinated with Cristiano seven days ago, 10 days ago it was pending the

and tomorrow it will vibrate with the classic of the Super Cup.

It is the cycle of sport and Saudi money, key to keeping the country in the media spotlight.

The

,

, the

that will arrive next year, the Saudi Cycling Tour, the

, the horse races with the most prizes in the world,

, the

. .. The list of world events held in Arabia is endless.

But the

, yes, is different.

"They assure that they will soon beat the Emirates and Qatar"

« It is part of the

Crown Prince

It is about transforming the country at all levels and that is also where sport comes in.

A lot is being invested in facilities, in signings, in hiring experts in the sector...", reflects in this newspaper

, delegate of LaLiga in Saudi Arabia.

"Cristiano's arrival is an achievement for the country and makes it

.

Here they assure that they are going to beat them soon and that more signings will come », he adds.

The 236-page

document outlines the plan to host

, build nearly

and the presence of

from the country in the

.

That "competing with the Emirates and Qatar" is not only through sporting events, but with actions that put Saudi Arabia on the first plane of the world map, a situation for which they took a step forward more than a year ago: the purchase from

.

An operation managed by the

led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which made the

team the richest club in the world because said fund has a fortune of more than

.

14 months after the purchase and having spent more than 200 million, it is already third in the table.

"Al-Nassr doesn't have that much money..."

Newcastle's sporting success despite image problems when the deal was approved convinced the Saudi government to continue investing in sports.

And that's where Cristiano's option appeared and that

.

«

.

It is money that comes from the government.

It's obvious," admits Haid in the taxi.

This newspaper has tried to contact directors of Al-Nassr, but "this week we have had more than a thousand requests," he argues.

"

is going to mean a change in the league and in the country, a before and after," reflects in EL MUNDO

, a former

player and now a footballer for Al-Taawoun in Riyadh.

«This league is only broadcast in Arabia and I think now many countries will want the rights.

I think it will help the country to open up more at the tourist level."

If in

going to Cristiano Ronaldo's house was a complicated matter, in Riyadh it is easier.

The Portuguese, who moves, logically, with private security, is staying at the

, at the top of the

, the most famous skyscraper in Riyadh.

Waiting to get a house in the

neighborhood , where the upper class is, he spends hours with his family in the

that he has rented at a rate of

.

Next to him is his partner

, to whom the Saudi government had to issue a special permit to be able to live with him, since Islamic law does not allow them to live together if they are not married.

From there, Cristiano will have to travel by car the

of excessive and unbearable traffic that separate the hotel from the

, located to the west of the city.

A humble complex surrounded by

, commercial premises and several dirt soccer fields where lower-class youth play who dream of one day being like him.

Yesterday, among

, they played while his idol trained at 50 meters.

It is the illusion of football.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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