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What's the story?
Football Leaks, the website behind some of the biggest investigative works in world football, recently put up a post in conjecture with German paper Der Spiegel, which revealed the details of Cristiano Ronaldo's 10-year contract with American sports giants Nike that was signed in 2016.
As per the report, Ronaldo is set to earn at least €162 million over the span of his 10-year deal with Nike.
In case you didn't know...
Ronaldo first signed with Nike way back in 2004. In 2016 it was announced that he had signed a lifetime deal with them, but the details of the same weren't made available to the public.
The 34-year-old was ranked second in the prestigious World's Highest-Paid Athletes list of the Forbes magazine, thanks to his hefty endorsement fees from sponsors, notably Nike and EA Sports.
Lionel Messi pipped him to the No.1 spot in the list for the first time ever this year. Just like the Portuguese star, his left-footed adversary also has a lifetime deal with Nike's fiercest rivals Adidas.
The heart of the matter...
According to information from Football Leaks that has been reported by Der Spiegel, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will earn at least €16.2 million per year from his deal with Nike until he is 41 years of age in 2026, when the current contract will expire.
This deal was signed in Dublin between the American multinational company and Polaris Sports Limited, the company that handles the player's image rights, in September 2016, at a time when he used to play for Spanish club Real Madrid.
Though he is guaranteed to take home the massive sum of €162 million from this deal, there's also a provision of potential bonuses if he wins individual awards like The Best and the Ballon d'Or.
The same report also mentioned that he was awarded an additional €4 million from Nike for winning the Ballon D'Or in 2016.
What's next?
Ronaldo had a fairly successful campaign with club and country last time around, which make him a strong contender for the Ballon d'Or.
Having missed out on UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award, will he lift the coveted trophy for a record sixth time this year? Only time will tell.
