Despite having many domestic titles, Al Nassr has had very little success in larger, larger international tournaments. Their most beautiful days took place a long time ago, in the 1990s, in the Gulf Cup as well as the Asian Cup.
Bulgari striker Hristo Stoichkov, who won the European Golden Ball in 1994, played for Al Nassr at the sunset of his career. Stoichkov scored the only goal to help Al Nassr beat Suwon Samsung Bluewings 1-0, winning the Asian Winner's Cup in 1997-1998. Also in this year, Al Nassr was crowned Asian Super Cup.
Currently, Al Nassr hopes that Ronaldo - who will receive a huge salary for the team until June 2025, can help them win the Asian Champions League against strong opponents in Saudi Arabia, Al Hilal and Al Ittihad, as well as aim for bigger international tournaments such as the FIFA Club World Cup.
After Ronaldo, the Saudi Arabian team founded in 1954 is determined to make other blockbuster deals, including Real Madrid's Croatian midfielder, Luka Modric and French midfielder N'Golo Kante. If this succeeds, Al Nassr will be like Real Madrid in West Asia, possessing a real "stereline".
We will celebrate Ronaldo with his official arrival and continue working towards other high-level contracts. We want to create a Galaxy, a senior Al Nassr official told AFP on condition of anonymousness.
Al Nassr was founded in 1955 as an amateur club. They have won the Saudi Arabia championship 9 times. Stoichkov was the last superstar to play for Al Nassr before Ronaldo arrived. At the age of 37, Ronaldo is at a completely different level to the players who have played and are playing in Saudi Arabia.
CR7 has won the UEFA Champions League 5 times, won the European Golden Ball 5 times, owns a huge fortune and is number 1 on social networks.
Previously, the Gulf region has attracted a number of other stars to play as old-age players including George Weah, Pep Guardiola and Xavi. But Ronaldo with an estimated income of more than €200 million/year, is expected to create a brand boost for Saudi Arabian football in particular and the Gulf region in general.
The president of Musalli Al-Muammar club, a former leader of the Saudi Pro League, has a lot of experience in marketing and media platforms. Ronaldo is a strategic card for him and his teammates to take the team to a new position both domestically and internationally, even though Mrsool Park has only more than 25,000 seats, not as magnificent as Santiago Bernabeu with 81,000 seats for Real Madrid.
At Al Nassr, Ronaldo will work under the direction of French coach Rudi Garcia, as well as play against a number of other famous players such as Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo and Cameroonian striker Vincent Aboubakar.
Al Nassr's best player to date is Majid Abdullah, who scored 78 goals in 194 appearances for the team between 1977 and 1998. In addition, he also made a great contribution to helping the Saudi Arabia team win the Asian Cup twice in 1984, 1988. At his debut ceremony, Ronaldo affirmed that he will go to Al Nassr to conquer new heights and break new records. That is something that Al Nassr fans in particular are waiting for.
