Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has celebrated signing a mega €1.1 billion deal with sports giants Nike by overseeing a football training session at the club where he first signed on at as a professional layer: Sporting Lisbon.
A spokesperson for Nike told SunSport: "The successful partnership between Nike and Cristiano Ronaldo will continue well into the future with a new, long-term contract.
"Ronaldo is having yet another incredible year, for both club and country, and is unquestionably an icon of the game. He transcends football and is the most popular athlete on social media and the most famous athlete in the world."
Ronaldo, 31, helped win the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid this year, and the UEFA European Championship by captaining the Portugal team which beat France in a tense final.
The footballer’s Nike deal comes days after he signed a new contract with Real Madrid which will see him earn €257 million over five years – the biggest in football history.
Ronaldo will pocket €500,000 per week at Real Madrid with a buyout clause set at €1 billion.
Asked about his intentions to play past the expiry of the contract, Ronaldo replied: “I don’t know the future. I know this is my penultimate contract. After that, I don’t know. I don’t know at what age I’ll stop."
Ronaldo topped the 2016 world list of highest-earning athletes, published by Forbes magazine, with an income of €80 million.
