Juventus ordered to pay Cristiano Ronaldo €9.7million

On Wednesday, the Italian courts declared that Juventus is obligated to compensate Cristiano Ronaldo (39) with a sum of €9.7 million (£8.3m) in unpaid wages for the 2020-21 season.

The Court of Arbitration, where Ronaldo lodged an appeal, has mandated Juventus Turin to pay a total of 9,774,166.66 euros, along with interest and procedural expenses, as outlined in its ruling.

This amount represents the discrepancy between the actual salary Ronaldo received and the amount he was entitled to after tax and other deductions.

Ronaldo, who played for Juventus in Italy for three seasons before moving to Manchester United in 2021 and then to Saudi club Al Nassr, had initially sought 19.5 million euros (£16.7), but the arbitration panel decided to reduce it by 50 percent.

When contacted by AFP, Juventus declined to provide a comment, but mentioned that a statement would be released "shortly."

As per the rankings published by Forbes, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2023, earning $136 million (£109.2m), including $46 million (£37m) in salary.

Juventus, a publicly traded company, reported losses of 123.7 million euros (£106m) for the financial year 2022-23, which concluded at the end of June and was announced in October.

The financial statements of the most successful football club in Italy, currently ranked third in Serie A, do not include any provisions for the settlement of this outstanding salary.