‘My son is a big fan of Ronaldo’: Donald Trump gushes in admiration as star attends White House black tie dinner with Saudi crown prince

Ronaldo is the face of the Saudi Pro League since making the move to Al Nassr in 2023. The club is owned by sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is chaired by the country’s crown prince.

Cristiano Ronaldo, right, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a dinner for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo)

Cristiano Ronaldo attended a black-tie dinner at the White House on Tuesday, along with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), and US President Donald Trump expressed his admiration for the football superstar at the event also attended by business czars such as Elon Musk and Tim Cook as well as FIFA head Gianni Infantino.

Saying it was an “honour” to host Ronaldo, Trump said getting the Portuguese legend to his official residence would make him more popular in the family.

“My son is a big fan of Ronaldo,” he told the guests. “And Baron (Trump) got to meet him, and I think he respects his father a little bit more now, just the fact that I introduced you.”

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Ronaldo is the face of the Saudi Pro League since making the move to Al Nassr in 2023. The club is owned by sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is chaired by the country’s crown prince. Ronaldo’s move was soon followed by several other high-profile Europe-based footballers moving to Saudi Arabia on lucrative deals.

The Portuguese footballer, who attended the event with fiancée Georgina Rodriguez, has publicly expressed his admiration for Trump on earlier occasions, describing the latter as “one of the guys who can help change the world,” in a recent interview with Piers Morgan.

“One of the most important guys is the US president. If we can help each other to make this happen,” the Portuguese footballer had said. “He is one of the guys I wish to meet to sit and have a nice talk. If it is here, or in the US, wherever he wants, I know he was here in Saudi with our boss MBS. I wish one day to meet him because he is one of the guys who can make things happen and I like people like that.”

In July, European Council president Antonio Costa — who is also Portuguese — gave the US president a Portugal football jersey signed by Ronaldo during a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada. Ronaldo’s handwritten note on the jersey read: ‘To president Donald J. Trump, Playing for Peace.’

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Tuesday’s instance was the Portuguese footballer’s first visit to the US since 2016. In 2017, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Ronaldo had paid $375,000 years earlier in hush money to a woman who accused him of raping her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. Ronaldo’s lawyers maintained that the sex was consensual, and no criminal charges were ever filed.

Ronaldo is set to play in a record sixth FIFA World Cup – as is his great rival Lionel Messi – to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.