Cristiano Ronaldo unhappy over organizers' behavior on 8th China tour
Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's injury has forced Al Nassr to cancel its two-game China tour. However, the Portuguese forward was even more displeased with his 8th China tour due to the behavior of event organizers.
The 38-year-old was even asked to play despite his injury, according to China News Weekly.
Al-Nassr were scheduled to play Shanghai Shenhua on January 24 and Zhejiang four days later in Shenzhen, with both games now postponed due to Ronaldo's physical issues, tour organizers announced on Tuesday.
At a press conference on Tuesday night, Ronaldo said: "I apologize to all Chinese fans. As you know, in football, there are things that cannot be controlled. I know everyone is sad, and I am too."
However, other statements within the past few days have meant a disappointing end to his 8th trip to China, a country he calls a "second home."
Organizers announced the injury of Cristiano Ronaldo at a pre-match press conference on the evening of January 23.
The organizers of the matches, SPORT17 and GHY Culture & Media, despite his knowledge, continued to publicly claim that Ronaldo would play in the matches. They even tried to persuade him to "play for the fans" on one public occasion which left him quite dissatisfied, China News Weekly reported.
Al Nassr FC disclosed Ronaldo's injury on January 19. Many fans then questioned whether Ronaldo could play in subsequent China tour matches, according to an insider linked to GHY Culture & Media.
The organizers, however, claimed during a live broadcast on the team's arrival at Shenzheng Airport that Ronaldo would participate in all the matches of the Al-Nassr China tour despite some physical conditions, and said it was not uncommon for a professional athlete to experience some pain during regular training.
It was not until Tuesday night, just one day before the match against Shanghai Shenhua, that the organizers announced that Ronaldo had suffered a muscle injury which ruled him out, and led to Al Nassr postponing the tour.
The insider believed the organizers concealed the information because they were worried about ticket sales. "The schedule of Al-Nassr's China tour was finalized last year, and the promotion surrounding Ronaldo was also released early. But if the organizer publicly said that Ronaldo could not play before the game, who would buy tickets?"
The Portuguese star was also unhappy with the banquet he attended on Monday, which became a trending topic on Weibo with the hashtag "Cristiano Ronaldo toasted." The organizers sold a large number of seats of this event to buyers mainly being Internet celebrities. Many of them profited through ways such as live streaming with the presence of Ronaldo, who was bothered with demands for autographs and photos, and live streaming throughout the entire dinner.
There were rumors that Ronaldo had toasted at the dinner, which were later refuted that he was drinking tremella pear soup.
Prior to the China tour, an e-commerce livestreaming platform intended to invite Ronaldo to engage in its livestream sales for its goods, but that was rejected by Ronaldo and his management team. However, the platform thereafter managed to convince Al Nassr to conduct a live streaming event for product promotions on behalf of the team.
However, in promotional posters released later, only portraits of Ronaldo and an Internet celebrity were featured, leading to significant displeasure from both Ronaldo and Al Nassr.
Ronaldo would appear in the livestreaming room of Taobao anchor "Lie'er Baby" on Friday to challenge the Guinness World Record, Taobao Live announced earlier.
Along with Ronaldo, the vast majority of fans have strongly expressed their discontent with the organizers, primarily focusing on the lack of professionalism of the host venue, excessively expensive ticket prices, the over-commercialization of the event, and unreasonable refund policies.
Netizens said the host venue was not a professional football stadium, yet still selling tickets at sky-high prices. Many others claimed that they traveled to Shenzhen at great expense, only to learn that the match had been canceled after their arrival.
Some even failed to get their travel expenses reimbursed which is valid only between January 23 and 25. "The reimbursement requirements are too strict, many people arrived before the 23rd, especially since Ronaldo arrived on the 21st. It was stated as full reimbursement, but now only the ticket costs have been refunded," one user commented.
It is not unprecedented for organizers of commercial football matches featuring football superstars to be widely criticized. Last June, eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, along with World Cup champion Argentina national team, was invited to play a friendly against Australia in Beijing. The organizer was criticized for the cancellation of a fan meeting due to poor organization.
Even worse, Messi's tour of China with the Miami Internationals in November last year and Ronaldo's tour of China with Al Nassr this time were canceled. Both organizers came under fire online for their event operation.
Ding Tao, a Guangdong-based lawyer specializing in sports-related law, believes the failure of these commercial football matches is mainly attributed to the contradiction between the organizers' overemphasis on profit-making and the players' pure intention of playing football.
"Foreign football teams know that Chinese market values star effect, but their main purpose is still football. They may be reluctant to see the tour is packaged into a fan meeting and operated in an entertainment way," Ding said.
Fans of Ronaldo gather outside his hotel one day after the announcement of cancellation of matches on his China tour.
