Cristiano Ronaldo joins Al Nassr: what you need to know | Football News

Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr will be the new home for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal great’s relationship with Manchester United soured following his fiery comments on a TV interview last year, leading to termination of his deal with the Premier League giants. But the 2-1/2-year contract with Al-Nassr will soothe some of those wounds that gaped at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which ended in tears for Ronaldo and Portugal in the quarterfinals.
Here’s what we know about the 37-year-old striker’s new deal:
WHAT RONALDO MEANS TO AL NASSR
At 37, Ronaldo might be in the twilight of his career but tops the goal-scoring charts with 819 career goals, of which 700 have come in his club career. He finished as Manchester United’s top scorer last season with 24 goals, including 18 in the Premier League. However, before his United deal fell off earlier this season, he had scored just thrice for the English club in all competitions. At the World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo didn’t start for Portugal in their Round-of-16 and quarterfinal matches.
ABOUT RONALDO’S NEW CLUB
Formed in 1955, Al Nassr is based in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the club plays in the country’s top division – the Saudi Professional League (SPL), which has 16 teams. They finished third last season. They have won the SPL title nine times, which is the second best in the league’s history behind Al Hilal’s 18. Al Nassr last won the trophy in 2018-19. Their best performance in the continent’s top-flight AFC Champions League competition was the runners-up finish in 1995.

The Asian Football Confederation, however, has changed the format for the AFC Champions League. Al Nassr must win the SPL this season this season to qualify for the group stage of the 2023–24 edition, beginning September. Teams will also be allowed to field up to six foreign players in their starting line-ups in the AFC Champions League next season. At least one of those players must be from another Asian nation.
In SPL, the clubs can register eight foreign players but only seven can be named in a matchday squad.
Al Nassr have also won the country’s knockout cup, the King’s Cup, six times, most recently in 1990. The SPL’s all-time top scorer Majed Abdullah played for Al Nassr. He scored 189 goals.
The Mrsool Park in Riyadh is the home ground for Al Nassr.

AL NASSR COACH AND SQUAD
Al Nassr are coached by Rudi Garcia, who previously managed Lille, AS Roma, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais. He has been in charge since June 2022.
The big names among Al Nassr’s foreign players include Cameroon’s Qatar World Cup hero Vincent Aboubakar, former Arsenal and Napoli goalkeeper from Colombia David Ospina and Brazil midfielder Luiz Gustavo.
AL NASSR IN THE ONGOING SPL SEASON
Al Nassr go into 2023 sitting top of the league with 26 points after 11 matches, having won eight games and losing just once. Brazilian Talisca tops the list of Al Nassr goal-scorers of the season with six goals.
(With inputs from Reuters)