Cristiano Ronaldo walked into the White House on Tuesday night wearing a tuxedo, invited alongside Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), and US President Donald Trump wasted no time telling the room how thrilled he was.
Calling it an “honour” to host Ronaldo, Trump told the packed hall that the football superstar had already enjoyed celebrity status within the Trump household. “My son is a big fan of Ronaldo,” he said, drawing laughter and applause. “And Baron (Trump) got to meet him, and I think he respects his father a little bit more now, just the fact that I introduced you.”
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The dinner was attended by the likes of Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Ronaldo, the face of the Saudi Pro League since joining Al Nassr in 2023, arrived with fiancée Georgina Rodriguez. His move to Saudi Arabia, facilitated by the country’s powerful Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by MBS, has already reshaped football’s transfer landscape, triggering a wave of star players leaving Europe for tax-free, high-paying contracts.
Ronaldo lauded Donald Trump
Notably, during a recent conversation with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo described the US president as “one of the guys who can help change the world,” adding, “One of the most important guys is the US president. If we can help each other to make this happen. He is one of the guys I wish to meet to sit and have a nice talk. If it is here, or in the US, wherever he wants, I know he was here in Saudi with our boss MBS. I wish one day to meet him because he is one of the guys who can make things happen, and I like people like that.”
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Tuesday night was Ronaldo’s first trip to the US since 2016. Interestingly, in 2017, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that he had paid $375,000 in hush money to a woman who accused him of rape in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. His lawyers insisted the encounter was consensual, and no criminal charges were filed.
Earlier this year at the G7 summit in Canada, European Council president Antonio Costa had gifted Trump a Portugal jersey autographed by Ronaldo, bearing a handwritten message: ‘To president Donald J. Trump, Playing for Peace.’
