At the end of 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo took legal action against his former employer Juventus – and demanded around 20 million euros. Now the verdict has been reached via arbitration: Juve must indeed pay, but not quite as much
Balance sheet fraud, share manipulation, secret black money agreements with players: some time ago – from the end of 2022 – Juventus Turin had to deal with a number of accusations that ultimately led to drastic penalties.
At the end of May 2023, Italy’s record champions (36 titles) were stripped of around ten Serie A points and fined – as well as a deal with UEFA that led to a one-year ban from all European competitions and a €20 million fine.
But that’s not all: it had already come to light at the end of 2022 that Cristiano Ronaldo (39, now with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia), who played for the Bianconeri between 2018 and 2021, had sued for outstanding salary – around €20 million
Despite agreement: CR7 receives withheld salary
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Juve bosses at the time allegedly paid out or pledged illegal money. The accused allegedly granted 23 professionals who had agreed to a coronavirus-related salary waiver of €90 million – including CR7 – part of their salary after all. And they did so in the black, i.e. without paying taxes and social security contributions. There was talk of four monthly salaries, three of which are said to have been paid in the black and therefore also unaccounted for.
In the case of CR7, the whole thing is said to have had the following background: The amount he was demanding to be paid was the salary that had allegedly been agreed between the two parties during the pandemic. The club had stated that it had already paid out the money. However, the player, who earned over €30 million net per season during his time with the Old Lady, claimed at the time that he had never received a transfer, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Now justice has spoken in the person of a competent arbitration tribunal – and it delivered a Solomonic verdict. The Turin club must pay almost ten million euros (9.7) to Cristiano Ronaldo. The fact that the now 39-year-old had agreed to waive his salary himself at the time prompted the court not to award him the full amount he had demanded. In the end, the court ruled in favor of both the player and the club in part, with Turin having to pay around half of the amount claimed – and all parties can draw a line under the matter.
