“If on the pitch, Ronaldo is still looking for the milestone of scoring 1,000 goals, as well as achieving his 700th victory for the club, then off the pitch, he continues to make history. The “CR7 brand” of this famous player is a marketing product with a record value of up to 882.5 million USD in 2025, and is on its way to the 1 billion USD milestone, according to research by IPAM,” Marca (Spain) reported on February 7.
“According to the study, this value comes from a combination of 28 variables distributed across 6 dimensions, including: income, media, social networks, achievements, social influence and impact. In addition, we must also mention the share ownership (expected 5%) in Al Nassr Club that Ronaldo will have when renewing his contract and its value is skyrocketing,” Marca explained.
“Ronaldo is the biggest marketing phenomenon in the history of world football. Talent, a lot of training and repetition, a lot of discipline, especially combined with a unique strategic image positioning,” said Fabio Wolff, managing partner of Wolff Sports.
According to Mr. Thiago Freitas, CEO of Roc Nation Sports in Brazil: “Ronaldo, off the field, is like Pele on the field”.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rene Salviano, CEO of Heatmap and a sports marketing expert, assessed: “Ronaldo is a sports icon, but in fact, we can also say that he is a role model in the world of entertainment. Ronaldo’s audience is huge, this is due to a combination of many factors, one of which is that he is very professional in everything he does, which clearly creates record numbers in every sense.”
“Ronaldo’s influence is built through impressive records, beyond boundaries, beyond the business world and reaching different corners of the world. The value described is a reflection of a global brand that inspires and models behavior worldwide,” explains Ivan Martinho, professor of sports marketing at ESPM.
According to IPAM’s notes, in terms of income, Ronaldo currently earns $207.5 million/year at Al Nassr Club, plus more than $155.6 million from advertising contracts with global brands.
On social media, the Portuguese player, who just turned 40, has also become the world’s most followed public figure, with more than 1 billion followers across social media platforms.
Another important fact that IPAM’s research provides is that Ronaldo and his CR7 brand generate an average of 22.3 million articles in newspapers every year worldwide, as well as another 187 million annual searches on the Google platform.
Ronaldo is also mentioned in 4,000 books on Amazon and appears in 63,000 scientific articles. “Unbelievable numbers,” Marca emphasized.
