Cristiano Ronaldo Right On Pace To Become Soccer's First Billionaire Despite Juventus Pay Cut

Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly agreed to take a significant amount of pay cut from Juventus to help the soccer club to withstand the financial hit due to the Coronavirus crisis.

However, the sacrifice of a portion of his wage would hardly burden the Portuguese superstar as he is right on track to become soccer's first billionaire.

Should he reach the mark, the 35-year-old will join Tiger Woods and Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the only three sportsmen to barge into billionaire’s club. The golf icon had held the wealthy feat alone for eight years until the retired boxing champion Mayweather Jr. joined him in 2017.

According to reports, Ronaldo will be surrendering $4.24 million of his compensation to the Italian ball club, which expects to gather about $100 million of savings from the reduced salaries of its players from March to June.

“Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that, due to the current global health emergency is preventing the performance of the sporting activity, it has reached an understanding with the players and the coach of the First Team regarding their compensation for the residual portion of the current sport season,” the team’s statement read.

“The understanding provides for the reduction of the compensation for an amount equal to the monthly payments of March, April, May and June 2020. In the coming weeks, personal agreements with the players and the coach will be finalised, as required by the current regulations.”

Ronaldo was recognized as the second-highest paid footballer behind Lionel Messi in 2019 after he earned $109 million, including $65 million in salary and bonus, based on Forbes.

But five-time Ballon d’Or winner is also raking in the dough from his activities outside of the field.

Christina Settimi of Forbes gathered the numbers and reported, “With the additional $45 million he makes as a walking billboard, pitching products head to toe for the likes of Nike and his CR7 line of underwear, footwear, and cologne, Ronaldo can still earn $91 million annually to retain his standing among the best-paid in all of sports, and still become the third active athlete to crack the $1 billion mark in career earnings at the end of this season.”