Cristiano Ronaldo has reached padel

Cristiano Ronaldo expanding its business portfolio. Now, the paddle. He bought 100% of the shares of Lisbon Racket Center. “It will change the paradigm of paddle tennis,” he assured EFE the president of Portuguese Padel Federation (FPP), Ricardo Oliveira. In Portugal There are more than 300,000 padel players, and the impact Ronaldo they can be raised up to 500,000.

Its ultimate step is to purchase 100% of the Lisbon Racket Center, a center specializing in paddle and racket games where it aims to establish itself in what is one of the most fashionable sports today.

“The entrance of Cristiano Ronaldo It will not only change the paradigm of padel in Portugalbut worldwide,” assured the president of the Portuguese Paddle Federation (FPP), Ricardo Oliveira, to EFE.

The manager did not want to give details about the exact figures of the operation, he limited himself to saying that it was “a few million”, and attributed it to the interest that the footballer has developed in this sport in recent years .

“Obviously, he plays soccer and trains his body every day, but they ‘secretly’ tell me that he plays paddle tennis every day, that he loves paddle tennis,” he said. Oliveira.

The captain of the Portuguese national team is not the only one passionate about this sport: more than 30 million people practice it worldwide, which represents a 150% increase in the number of players in the last decade, according to in data from the International Padel Federation.

In Portugal There are more than 300,000, a number the FPP believes could grow to 500,000 thanks to ‘Ronaldo effect’.

“Everything Cristiano puts on his social networks reaches 1,000 million people. You can imagine what this means for a sport like ours, it’s incredible,” he summarized. Oliveirawho joked about the possibility of removing the tennis courts to make room for paddle tennis courts in the not too distant future.

CR7 SA

After more than 20 years at the highest level and more than 900 goals scored, Cristiano began to take an interest in a game played in offices.

The acquisition of Lisbon Racket Center This is the latest operation by his sports investment firm, CR7 SA, to grow his financial empire and increase his influence in an emerging sport like paddle tennis.

In September of last year, the former soccer player real Madrid made public his connection with Padel City of Oeirasa sports complex outside Lisbon that will open in 2025 and in which Ronaldo controls 50% after providing 3 million euros of initial capital.

Oliveira explained that there will be a tournament of the Qatari Premier Padel competition for the next three years, which in 2023 will take over its predecessor, the World Padel Tour, and become the leading professional circuit in the world.

“At some point we want, and I think it will be, that the godfather of this and future tournaments in Portugal is Cristiano,” he concluded.

Hotels and hair transplants

The Lisboa Racket Center adds to Ronaldo’s list of investments, which are not limited to sports and cover areas as diverse as hospitality and hair health.

The footballer of Al-Nasr Saudi controls these investments through various companies, such as CR7 Lifestyle or Ponta de Lançaand usually seek alliances with successful entrepreneurs who have long experience in their sectors.

This is the case of Dionísio Pestana, a Madeiran like Ronaldo and one half of Pestana-CR7, a tourism label made up of six luxury hotels spread throughout Spain, Portugal and the United States, which last year generated 39.7 million euros.

Or the Portuguese Paulo Ramos, an entrepreneur with ten years of experience in the health sector and since 2021 co-founder with Ronaldo of the hair implant clinic Insparya Hair Company.

With this, the footballer has fully entered that market, which is worth 8.77 billion euros worldwide and could grow at a rate of nearly 10% annually over the next six years, according to consulting firm Grand View Research. .

Estimated Cristiano makes around 200 million euros a year between his salary, image rights and sponsorships; an income stream that has him preparing for the day the referee blows the final whistle and hangs up his boots permanently.