How much has Cristiano Ronaldo earned as a professional footballer? Total salary as Al Nassr star turns 40

As the Portuguese forward celebrates his 40th birthday, we decided to take a look back at his reported salaries from his time with each club.

From this, we have been able to estimate how much he has earned since becoming a professional footballer - and it’s more than the GDP per capital of entire countries.

In a full season at Sporting CP, where he became a breakout talent, Ronaldo was earning £68,900 per month, meaning he earned £827,000 over the course of a year. After this, the Portuguese forward got his big move to Manchester United in the summer of 2003, moving for a transfer fee of £12.85m.

Here, Ronaldo earned a staggering £311,000 per month and spent six years at Old Trafford, where he lifted every possible trophy - including the Champions League in 2007/08. During that time, he earned £22.3m in salary.

Next came his record-breaking move to Real Madrid in 2009, where he was earning £831,000 per month; this equates to £9.9m each year, or £89.7m during his nine-year stay at the Bernabeu, before moving to Juventus in Italy for £99.2m.

Once he arrived at the Serie A, Ronaldo was put on a salary of £2.1m per month, or £25.2m per year. This means that over his three years with the Old Lady, the Portuguese player earned £75.6m.

A return to Manchester United beckoned, and in August 2021 Ronaldo made a hero’s return to Old Trafford, with a salary of £1.7m per month. But his reunion with the club that made him a household name soon turned sour, and in November 2022 Ronaldo left the club - having pocketed £25.5m.

After that, Ronaldo made a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al Nassr in a switch that began an influx of top players moving to Saudi Arabia in search of generational footballing wealth. The Portuguese man led the way, with a reported salary of around £13.8m a month, equating to £331m since his paycheque at the end of last month.

All in all, this means Ronaldo has earned roughly £554.9m in his career as a footballer, which is greater than the GDP per capita of countries like Yemen, Mozambique and North Korea, according to the United Nations.