Browse all

Cristiano Ronaldo's way

New Sport Side

Cristiano Ronaldo's way  New Sport Side

The Euro 2016 is finished just 15 minutes ago when, on Cristiano Ronaldo's Instagram profile a photo appears. One could expects a selfie with his teammates, a shot stolen by someone from his staff in the stands, or even a snapshot of his tears or the moth on his face before leaving the field. But no, the first post of Cristiano Ronaldo as European champion, champion for the first time for his country, says "Make Them Believe #JustDoIt ": the first social image of the planet's most famous player is a giant commercial for Nike.

Una foto pubblicata da Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) in data:

This is not the first time that the Oregon company guess claim, their copies must be among the best in the world, carefully selected by those who seem not to leave anything to chance. The photo is in black and white and Cristiano Ronaldo is in the center, with the captain's armband, and tug to encourage his team. And so you are, Cristiano, you are the one who needs to bring everyone else to believe it. You who have chosen a particular way of being a leader, a leader who cares first about himself, an unethical leaders, but that drags everyone to victory. A leader who must "make them believe". And despite Cristiano Ronaldo has actually not even played in the final of the European Championship, we all have seen him on the sideline to slam inciting his comrades, on one leg, wearing the new Nike Air Pegasus 32. The film calamity that Cristiano Ronaldo has for nearly 10 years he has made it an incredibly lucrative media subject for everyone, including himself. His moves - instinctive or stage they are - his arrogant pose in kicking the freekicks, the hair-style always perfectly setted with gel, are part of the body of the custom-built (and multinational) built by Lusitanian in recent years.

The story of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nike was born even before his legend, when Ronaldo was one of the most promising products of the (infinite) academy of Sporting Lisbon. Cristiano is revealed to the world by winning 3-1 with the SP against United, wearing the silver Mercurial Vapors, the same that had been designed and launched to be worn by another Ronaldo, the Fenomeno. It's a story then made of predestination, and patience, of millionaires contracts and external corruption attempts (by Adidas, for example).

Ronaldo must wait until 2014 to get his first signature CR7 see the light through total identification with the Superfly technology. Since then, he has signed a five-year sponsorship contract of more than 105 million Euros, which means about 22 million a year. This makes Cristiano Ronaldo the real face of Nike football, the hero prince of every single campaign. When they had to choose a character for the spot "The Switch" for Euro 2016 doubts have been few: Ronaldo will be it. He also brought luck to Nike, which for the first time has completely stole the show at the German rivals in a European Championship (UEFA is sponsored by Adidas), conducting two Nike team to a final in its way historical.

But Cristiano Ronaldo iconography as a symbol of football / company is not cultivated only by Nike. In the extraordinary year 2016, CR7 has become the highest paid athlete in the world, with a turnover of 88 million dollars, arriving in large part also by the Swiss TAG Heuer watches, of which he is brand ambassador, Clear, Herbalife, Pokerstars and so on. In 2015, billionaire Peter Lim of Mint Media has paid $ 40 million for using his image in the next six years. But what is "fun" is that Cristiano Ronaldo could even be "underpaid". As Forbes revealed a few months ago in fact, every post-sponsored social media produces - for those who sponsor - a gain of about $ 700, for a total of over 175 thousand $ of income for the sponsored posts. To say, the runner (Leo Messi), it earns less than 20,000.

He has 215 million followers spread across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The photo I have been mentioned previously, for example, now it has more than two million and a half like that continue to grow with each refresh. It was followed by many more photos, everyone with a million and a half “like” and any number of comments.

Una foto pubblicata da Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) in data:

Thinking about it, this make even more impressive his tears, his repeated gestures of annoyance, the impression of sincere and childish disappointment in not being able to play that final he craves for 12 years, that for 12 years "made me pray to God to have another chance. " Nobody expected Ronaldo and Portugal in these Euro Cup, especially after the first two races, where three times Golden Ball appeared exhausted and out of condition. Then he saved his team two times against Hungary, then he allowed to close the Wales-file. All it experienced as a constraint, a mission. Because, as he told to Undici "I was born with a great talent, but I have been training hard to make it grow better."

What will the highest paid player in football history do when his quadriceps not stand most jumps of 2 meters and a half, his abs less perfect and its speed half decreased? What will do, in short, Cristiano Ronaldo when he will retires? The answer is simpler (and almost obvious than expected): the entrepreneur.

Una foto pubblicata da Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) in data:

Cristiano Ronaldo does not have, at least for now, any intention to keep stay in football world. He then decided to carry on with the work, by organizing its own underwear line before (for which has left Armani) and clothing (not extraordinary, actually) then - which has also created some contractual problem with Nike. There is also a fragrance of perfume in his name. But the most striking area is that of accomodations. Along with the Pestana Group (native of Madeira, like CR) Ronaldo launched a chain of hotels - they will not be exactly luxurious, albeit very expensive - very innovative and open to the millennials world.

A money machine, as well as goals: this is Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet Ronaldo in popular imagination is, and simultaneously, a spoiled athlete, an obsessive compulsive, a "pussy", a blowhard, a great leader, a charismatic man, a charitable person, selfish, and a thousand other of these labels. At the end of the accounts, however Cristiano Ronaldo is an eternal contradiction between records that are shattered and abs in the gym at two in the morning. Among millionaires contracts and selfies with every single fan. Cristiano Ronaldo is above all a winner that has managed to coin a new way of being: Cristiano Ronaldo's way.