Ultimate image for Saudi Arabia's football poster boy: Ronaldo wins title

Al-Nassr's win means Ronaldo has won eight league titles in four countries

It is the ultimate image for the poster boy of football in Saudi Arabia: Cristiano Ronaldo lifting the Saudi Pro League trophy for the first time.

Al-Nassr signed the megastar in December 2022 - after he left Manchester United - to shock the world and thrust the country on to the global sporting stage.

But there has also been some surprise that more than three years later, the 41-year-old had not won a major domestic title.

The wait finally ended on Thursday as Ronaldo scored twice in Al-Nassr's 4-1 victory over Damac on the final day of the season to see off bitter rivals Al-Hilal and win their first championship title since 2019.

Ronaldo, who recently scored his 100th goal in the Saudi Pro League, has scored 129 times for the club across all competitions - but this was the title he was signed to win.

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It has been quite a journey since Ronaldo's arrival almost three and a half years ago.

His arrival set the scene for an influx of big-name stars such as Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Neymar and others to sign for the so-called 'Big Four' clubs: Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr in Riyadh, and Jeddah giants Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad.

In the summer of 2023, that quartet was taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Newcastle United, though a 70% stake in Al-Hilal was sold in April 2026 to Kingdom Holding Company, a firm run by businessman and Saudi Arabian royal family member Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

For a while, there were four teams in the title race with Al-Ahli, fuelled by the goals of Ivan Toney, and Al-Qadsiah, powered by Saudi Arabian oil giants Aramco - and with head coach Brendan Rodgers looking to turn the Big Four into five - slipping away in the final stages.

It left Nassr and Hilal to fight it out, and it always looked likely to rest on their titanic showdown on 12 May - perhaps the biggest league game in the country's history that was watched, according to the organisers, in over 180 countries.

Viewers were rewarded with a spectacular ending. With Al-Nassr leading 1-0 as the game entered its 97th minute, celebrations had already started among the yellow-clad fans, but then in what was the last action of the game, goalkeeper Bento somehow spilled a simple catch to concede an own goal.

That game ended 1-1 and the title race was still alive, but on Thursday the team convincingly got the job done.

As well as being Al-Nassr's 11th title, it is an eighth league championship for Ronaldo, following triumphs in England with Manchester United, Spain with Real Madrid and Italy with Juventus.

"Officials in Riyadh will likely see an Al-Nassr triumph as vindication of both Ronaldo's signing and of the decision to keep the club under PIF ownership," Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at Emlyon Business School in Paris, told the BBC.

"The league win will also help to confirm the Saudi view that success can be rapidly achieved given the right mix of domestic strategy and overseas acquisition.

"For Al-Nassr, to achieve the iconic status as some of its domestic and Asian rivals, the club must keep on winning and also secure continental titles."

The title will come as an ever bigger relief to Ronaldo after Al-Nassr surprisingly lost to Japan's Gamba Osaka in the final of the AFC Champions League Two, Asia's equivalent of the Europa League, on Saturday.

The season has not been without controversy.

In February, Ronaldo missed two league games, reportedly amid concerns over how PIF has run the club compared to Al-Hilal. Others, however, believe the league favours him.

Al-Ahli's Toney and Brazilian winger Galeno are among those who have accused the league of favouring Ronaldo and Al-Nassr.

Ronaldo responded: "I think this is not good for the league. Everyone complains. This is football, this is not a war… but not everything is allowed. I am going to speak at the end of the season because I've seen many, many bad things.