MOTOR OIL AND lubricants company Castrol has extended its sponsorship agreement with Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo for a further two years, in a deal valued by Frontloaded at around $5m per year.
Originally signing the Real Madrid winger as a global ambassador in 2009 for a two-year period, Ronaldo will continue to promote Castrol’s Edge brand by appearing in global advertising campaigns and at live events.
Alongside Castrol, Ronaldo’s current sponsorship portfolio boasts the likes of Nike, Armani and Coca-Cola. Nike reportedly pays the star €6m per year, making him the brands’ highest paid football player, while Armani is thought to pay him around $1.5m per year.
Part of the attraction of Cristiano Ronaldo as a marketable property to sponsors is his presence on social media websites and the global reach this brings to associated brands. With over 36 million ‘fans’, Ronaldo is the world’s most popular athlete on Facebook, nearly ten million ahead of his closest competitor Lionel Messi.
Castrol, as a result, runs a digital feature on the star’s Facebook page, ‘Ronaldo Tested to the Limit’, ensuring its brand is constantly exposed to the millions of visitors the site attracts.
Similarly, on Twitter Ronaldo ranks second as the most followed athlete globally, one spot behind Real Madrid teammate Kaka.
Ronaldo is currently the second highest-earning footballer in the world – he accrued a total annual income of around $38m between May 2010 and May 2011 – the result of his Real Madrid player wages making him the highest-paid player in the world (€13m per year), combined with personal endorsement deal earnings.
First place inevitably belongs to David Beckham who, despite being in the twilight of his career, managed to claim $40m in the same period as a result of his LA Galaxy wages and payouts from his faithful sponsors, which were recently bolstered by London 2012-related deals with Samsung and Sainsbury’s.