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June 2, 2025
Hailing from Portugal, Ronaldo is a world-class athlete who has done a lot more than just scoring goals, defending championship titles and becoming an excellent captain to his team year in and year out. His impact across multiple industries off the pitch has been undeniably immense...
Cristiano Ronaldo has built on his name and created a massive empire that includes various businesses. These businesses include the background elements he is known for, such as his lucrative lifestyle, fitness and health – all things that have pushed him higher and higher up on the totem pole in soccer. He has become his own asset, on whom companies, such as sportsbooks, have been able to build. A soccer player rarely makes such an impact on not only the sports world but also the businesses behind it. Looking at where Ronaldo started, as an entry-level player from Portugal, to where he is now, a multi-millionaire with hundreds of businesses behind his name, is something extremely interesting and everyone is taking their piece of the pie – which is only fair. Good business meets and makes good business, as the saying goes.
Cristiano Ronaldo - Rocking in 2025
To understand the businesses Ronaldo has, you must first comprehend where it all started.
To give you a snapshot of his career: He first started playing in 1992 in the youth league for Andorinha till 1995. He then moved over to Nacional from 1995 - 1997. Thereafter, he spent five years with Sporting CP from 1997 - 2002. He received his first big break in 2003 when he first played for Manchester United. This is where he showed his skill, endurance and finesse. He played with Manchester United for 6 years before getting another huge break in his career, playing for Real Madrid from 2009 - 2018.
If fans thought he was famous and big with Manchester United, then they were truly in for a treat with Real Madrid. Fans from all over the world went crazy for the skill of Ronaldo and were cheering him on and betting on him left, right and centre. He was a global phenomenon, with fans using information from sports betting experts at bonusscommesse360.it to leverage their understanding of his analytics and chances to place bets. This is how sportsbooks have managed to make the best of an excellent player. By this time, he was a household name and fans had a lot of faith in him. It was toward the end of his Manchester United stage, where he saw this too and started his infamous CR7 company, a lifestyle brand, which opened in 2006 and is now worth over 850 million euros, according to the Portuguese Institute of Administration and Marketing – more on this below.
CR7 is the base company that Ronaldo opened in 2006. It typically forms the bedrock of any other one of his ventures. CR7 in itself was revolutionary when it started. When you think of this business in today's 2025 age, the idea of an athlete having a brand and working alongside other brands is relatively normal. However, a good 20 years ago, this was something completely new. Very few athletes had the means or the popularity to do this. The only other big name at this time was Michael Jordan's Nike collaboration and he was the greatest and most popular basketballer for years, which shows how popular Ronaldo was back then already. CR7 is registered in London, UK and is listed as a non-trading company that works in partnership with other companies.
It's impossible to clearly define CR7 as it operates as an umbrella under which many different companies fall. All of which have been wildly successful and not only allow Ronaldo to reap the benefits but also the partners involved.
A business that Ronaldo has been able to amass alongside his soccer skills is in partnership with the hotel guru and expert, Dionísio Pestana. The beginning of the partnership started in December 2015. The doors opened in 2016 and since then, they've been on a joint goal. The first hotel was built in Ronaldo's hometown on the island of Madeira in Funchal.
The mission statement of the joined companies was to create hotels where guests could enjoy comfort and achieve active and memorable moments. The idea behind this business is to bring in some of the elements that Ronaldo was famous for – a lavish lifestyle, modern style and excellent wellness. In 2023, three of their hotels earned the World Travel Award in first place, as Portugal's Leading Design Hotel, Morocco's Leading Hotel and North America's Leading Lifestyle Hotel. In 2024, the hotels were awarded Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice Award by guests.
The main reason people go to visit is because of the line on their hotel website that says 'distinguished hotels enriched by the unmistakable style of Cristiano Ronaldo'. Understanding how and what made him so famous will give you better insight into why people are so interested in being anything like him – he's a role model to many and they want to stay in a hotel that he has built.
Many brands fall under the CR7 umbrella. The first big one was naturally CR7 footwear – remember the signature Mercirual boot that he launched in 2010? This was the first sign of footwear. Then he moved on to more luxurious footwear in 2015, which was an expansion of his footwear line. In between, he started CR7 Underwear, which was the chain created in 2013 and is a collaboration between Ronaldo and JBS Textile Group.
Then there is CR7 Fragrance. This company was first launched in 2017 and is an Aromatic fragrance for men. It's not just one perfume, there are new ones released every year, with different notes such as cedar, cinnamon, iris, vanilla and sandalwood. Again, not something you would immediately link with a mighty soccer player but it's the fact that fans want to emulate him that allows him to open these businesses.
More recently, he has moved into watches, where he partnered with Jacob & Co to create the brand 'Epic X CR7', which started in 2022. It is said that the first piece was hand-delivered to Ronaldo in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 18th, 2022.
The upward trajectory of Ronaldo's career is in line with the upward trajectory of his business ventures and success. This is not only limited to fashion and lifestyle but also includes health and fitness, two things he might even be more known for than his perfumes and fancy footwear.
To be as good as Ronaldo, you need to be as fit. His career trajectory has been better and longer than most professional players. The reason for this is that he stays fit and keeps healthy. Even at his 'riper' age for an athlete of 40 years old. He shows his heart and skill with every match, ranging from his starting point with Sporting, all the way to his current team in Saudi Arabia, Al-Nassr. The number of goals he scored with Al-Nassr over the past year and a half, having only signed with them in January 2023 and subsequently becoming the world's highest-paid athlete in the process, was 75 magnificent goals. Before that, with Juventus, he scored 101. Go back a little, with Real Madrid he scored 450 and with Manchester United 145.
This is why people want to join the gyms, health care centres and active programmes that he's part of because there is always the hope of emulating his greatness. CR7 collaborated with Crunch Gym to create CR7 gyms, which were announced on December 19th, 2016. The first CR7 gym opened in Madrid in Spain and now there are more than 11 across Spain and Portugal. There are more Crunch Gyms but the special CR7 ones are these exclusive packages.
Additionally, there is the Erakulis app, which was launched in 2024, making it one of his most recent business ventures. It was developed under the guidance of Ronaldo and offers personalised plans for fitness, nutrition and mental balance.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s journey from where he started as a budding Portuguese player to a global sports icon and business mogul is something that you usually only see in the movies. It is clear to see that he is more than just a soccer legend. Ronaldo has skillfully leveraged his fame and influence to craft an empire that includes fashion, hospitality, fitness and lifestyle – this is no easy feat and yet he has done it so well.
Through ventures like CR7, the Pestana CR7 hotel chain, his fragrance line and CR7 Gyms, he has shown the world that with hard work, perseverance and maybe also a bit of luck, anyone can achieve anything. It's interesting to see the businesses he backs because you can notice that this is a reflection of himself and his interests. His businesses reflect discipline, performance and style, plus, they include luxury, fitness and health. Ronaldo is more than a player – he is a brand, a role model and a case study in turning talent in one thing, such as soccer, into a multifaceted enterprise.
The fascinating thing is that he shows no signs of slowing down. The fitness app he guided was from 2024; that's only a year ago. Currently, there is no doubt that he is working on something just as exciting as his past projects, to be presented to the world under the famous CR7 name in months or years to come – all his fans are waiting with bated breath.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Portugal is on June 4, against Germany, for the UEFA Nations League. You can watch Germany vs Portugal, Chile vs Argentina, Spain vs France, Andorra vs England, Norway vs Italy and Equador vs Brazil, all matches provided from our live football game pages.
Portugal next game:
Germany vs Portugal kick-off time (04-06-2025):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+7: 03:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+4.30: 00:30
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+2: 22:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 21:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 20:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 17:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 16:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 13:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / service.gov.uk / cr7fitnesscrunch.com
