Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates 41st birthday (VIDEO)
Portuguese football great excels on pitch and in business worldwide
DUBAI – Cristiano Ronaldo has turned 41 today, marking another milestone in one of football’s most decorated and closely followed careers.
The Portuguese superstar spent the day with family, close friends and teammates, with videos from the celebration quickly circulating online. The scenes showed a relaxed and smiling Ronaldo cutting a large cake as music played and guests applauded around him. Supporters across social media platforms flooded timelines with birthday tributes to the forward widely regarded as one of the greatest players in football history.
Now playing for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr, Ronaldo remains active at the top level while also expanding a vast business and media footprint that stretches far beyond the pitch. At 41, he continues to combine elite sporting longevity with commercial scale rarely seen in global sport.
Ronaldo’s 41st birthday
Born on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo began his professional journey at Sporting Lisbon before moving to Manchester United in 2003. He later played for Real Madrid and Juventus, winning league titles in England, Spain and Italy. Across his club career, he has collected multiple domestic titles and Champions League trophies, along with five Ballon d’Or awards and four European Golden Shoes.
He is widely recognised as the most prolific goal scorer in football history, with record totals across club and international competitions. For Portugal, he has scored 135 goals in 217 matches and led the national team to UEFA Euro 2016 and the UEFA Nations League title.
Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world-record €94 million transformed both player and club history. He became Madrid’s all-time leading scorer and helped deliver four Champions League titles between 2014 and 2018. He later joined Juventus for €100 million in 2018, becoming the most expensive player over 30 at the time, and won multiple Serie A honours.
After a return spell at Manchester United ended in 2022, Ronaldo signed with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. His arrival drew global attention to the Saudi Pro League and significantly boosted its international visibility, commercial partnerships and broadcast reach. He still has 18 months remaining on his current Al Nassr contract, which includes a €50 million release clause that can be activated in the summer window.
In 2025, he renewed his Al Nassr deal for two years in an agreement widely reported to be worth £492 million. According to figures reported by The Sun, the extension equates to roughly £488,000 per day, £3.42 million per week and more than £20,000 per hour. The contract also includes a reported 15 percent club stake valued at about £33 million.
Business empire
Alongside football, Ronaldo has built a diversified commercial portfolio under the CR7 brand. His business lines include footwear, clothing, fragrances and lifestyle products distributed across multiple international markets. His fragrance line launched in partnership with Eden Parfums in 2015 and continues to expand.
In hospitality, the CR7 Pestana hotel partnership began in 2016, with locations opened in Madeira, Lisbon, Madrid, Marrakech and New York City. These hotels are designed with a strong sports and youth lifestyle focus. Ronaldo also partnered with Crunch Fitness to launch CR7 Crunch Fitness gyms, first in Portugal and later in Spain.
His endorsement portfolio includes global brands such as Nike, Herbalife, Clear, Tag Heuer, Armani, Binance and Jacob & Co., forming one of the most valuable sponsorship line-ups in sport.
Digital reach
Ronaldo’s influence extends strongly into digital media. In September 2025, he became the first person to surpass one billion combined followers across social media platforms. He currently has about 671 million followers on Instagram alone, the highest for any individual on the platform.
His YouTube channel, UR Cristiano, launched in August 2023, reached one million subscribers within 90 minutes and 15 million within 24 hours. Within months, the channel grew into one of the largest athlete-led channels online, featuring family content and celebrity collaborations.
Financially, Ronaldo has also reached historic territory. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index lists him with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, making him football’s first billionaire based on career earnings, endorsements and investments. Reports estimate he earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023 alone.
Ronaldo shares his February 5 birthday with several other well-known footballers, including Neymar, Carlos Tevez and Gheorghe Hagi, adding another layer of football history to the date as tributes continue pouring in worldwide.