Cristiano Ronaldo is usually associated with helping clubs sell shirts with his iconic name on the back. But the true extent of the Manchester United superstar’s own contributions of paying for football jerseys might be just as impressive.
The 36-year-old remains one of the highest-earning athletes of all-time along with Lionel Messi, surpassing $1billion (£739m) of career earnings in October 2021 and has a personal fortune of over £500m.
He signed a two-year deal worth a reported £385,000-a-week after returning to Old Trafford from Juventus in August.
But even considering his unquestionable wealth, the Man United star has not only handed out priceless memorabilia to sporting fans consistently throughout his career — he has footed the bill for it too.
According to Ben Foster, his former United team-mate at Old Trafford, the Portuguese has forked out a small fortune on handing shirts away for a number of different good causes.
The 38-year-old shot-stopper, who played alongside Ronaldo between 2007 and 2009, revealed professional footballers are required to fork out for the kit they give away.
Now at Watford, experienced goalkeeper Foster was left stunned when he calculated the total estimated expenditure by Ronaldo on those shirts.
"Right guys, Cristiano Ronaldo gives his shirt away pretty much every single game, but what you don't know, is us footballers actually have to pay for every single shirt we give away,” Foster said on his Cycling GK YouTube channel.
"Now don't get me wrong, this is not going to touch the sides of Cristiano's bank balance, however, let's go through the maths of how many shirts this guy has given away.
"I'm not saying he gives every shirt away every single game but, in those 1,100 games, you would like to think he's given one away every single game, pretty much, give or take one or two.
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“If you look at the price of what these shirts cost nowadays, the current home Man Utd shirt costs £100.
"Don't get me wrong, back in the day, they were a little bit cheaper, £50 or £60. So, let's work on they cost on average £70."
After putting the rough figures together, Foster estimated Ronaldo to have spent an incredible £77,000 — just by handing out his shirts.
Even now, Ronaldo is one of the highest earners at Man United and would almost recover the loss with one day of work at United, meaning his lifetime contribution is only a drop in the ocean for the multi-millionaire.
But it is merely the tip of the iceberg when considering Ronaldo’s overall charitable donations.
The Portuguese auctioned off his European Golden Boot for £1.2m back in 2011, with the money going towards building schools in Gaza.
He is also an ambassador for Unicef and World Vision, and back in 2014 when Real Madrid won the Champions League, Ronaldo split his £450,000 win bonus.
And in some individual cases, Ronaldo has generously donated funds for medical expenditure.
He gave £120,000 to the cancer centre that treated his mother, Dolores, in his hometown of Madeira, and even paid £55,000 to cover the cost of brain surgery for toddler Erik Ortiz Cruz.
He may have some tantrums on the pitch and when being substituted, but his philanthropic efforts away from the pitch underline why Ronaldo has maintained iconic status in the eyes of football fans around the world.
