{"id":15679,"date":"2026-02-02T08:16:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T08:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/?p=15679"},"modified":"2026-02-02T13:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:21:14","slug":"cristianos-saudi-crisis-why-ronaldo-is-refusing-to-play-for-al-nassr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/cristianos-saudi-crisis-why-ronaldo-is-refusing-to-play-for-al-nassr","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano\u2019s Saudi Crisis: Why Ronaldo is Refusing to Play for Al Nassr"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The football world is reeling as reports surface that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/player\/cristiano-ronaldo-817\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a><\/strong> has officially refused to take the pitch for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/team\/al-nassr-fc-riyadh-7549\">Al Nassr<\/a><\/strong> in their Matchday 20 clash against Al Riyadh. What was initially rumored to be a &#8220;rest day&#8221; has escalated into a high-stakes standoff between the global icon and the club&#8217;s hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is Cristiano Ronaldo Not Playing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Portuguese sports outlet <em>A Bola<\/em>, the strike is a direct protest against the <strong>Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)<\/strong>. Despite Al Nassr&#8217;s title ambitions, the club has had a stagnant winter transfer window, while rivals like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/team\/al-hilal-riyadh-5457\">Al Hilal<\/a><\/strong> continue to receive massive reinforcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Points of the Conflict:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Transfer Inequality:<\/strong> Ronaldo is reportedly &#8220;furious&#8221; that Al Nassr only signed 21-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/player\/hayder-abdulkareem-132115\">Haydeer Abdulkareem<\/a>, while rivals are linked to legends like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/player\/karim-benzema-543#competitionId=649\">Karim Benzema<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Internal Friction:<\/strong> The recent freezing of powers for CEO Jos\u00e9 Semedo and Sporting Director Sim\u00e3o Coutinho\u2014two of Ronaldo&#8217;s key allies\u2014has left the captain feeling isolated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No Injury:<\/strong> Transfer expert <strong>Fabrizio Romano<\/strong> confirmed the absence is &#8220;not related to any physical issue nor to workload,&#8221; cementing the narrative of a calculated protest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Statistical Breakdown: The CR7 Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Losing Ronaldo isn&#8217;t just a blow to morale; it\u2019s a statistical disaster for Al Nassr. As he approaches his 41st birthday on February 5, his output remains elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_kg4dq8kg4dq8kg4d.png\" alt=\"Ronaldo Statistical breakdown\" class=\"wp-image-15681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_kg4dq8kg4dq8kg4d.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_kg4dq8kg4dq8kg4d-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_kg4dq8kg4dq8kg4d-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_kg4dq8kg4dq8kg4d-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Via 365Scores)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Pro Insight:<\/strong> Ronaldo\u2019s <strong>Avg. Impact Rating (Avg. IR) of 52.38<\/strong> on <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\">365Scores<\/a><\/strong> highlights his role as the league&#8217;s most influential player. This metric proves that more than half of Al Nassr&#8217;s successful offensive transitions involve the Portuguese superstar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Saudi Pro League News: What\u2019s Next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/team\/ittihad-jeddah-8593\">Al Ittihad<\/a><\/strong> looming on Friday, the timing of this rift couldn&#8217;t be worse. If the PIF does not address Ronaldo&#8217;s concerns regarding the squad&#8217;s competitiveness, the most famous signing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/league\/saudi-league-649\"><strong>Saudi Pro League<\/strong> <\/a>history could be looking for an early exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Follow the Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Fans can track the fallout, live squad updates, and the &#8220;Race to 1,000 Goals&#8221; by following <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/en-us\/football\/player\/cristiano-ronaldo-817\">Cristiano Ronaldo&#8217;s live profile<\/a><\/strong> on 365Scores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The football world is reeling as reports surface that Cristiano Ronaldo has officially refused to take the pitch for Al Nassr in their Matchday 20 clash against Al Riyadh. What was initially rumored to be a &#8220;rest day&#8221; has escalated into a high-stakes standoff between the global icon and the club&#8217;s hierarchy. Why is Cristiano &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":15682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1766,1857,26,2771,1395,108],"class_list":["post-15679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer","tag-al-nassr-2","tag-cr7","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-portugal-national-team","tag-saudi-pro-league","tag-soccer","article_type-news","article_type-seo","entity_type-athlete","inspiration-365s-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15679"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15723,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15679\/revisions\/15723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}