Cristiano Ronaldo expands its portfolio of activities by fully entering the world of paddle tennis. The Portuguese footballer from Al-Nassr bought 100% of the shares of Lisboa Racket Center. “This will change the paradigm of paddle tennis,” he assured EFE the president of the Portuguese Paddle Federation (FPP), Ricardo Oliveira. In Portugal, there are more than 300,000 padel players, and the Ronaldo effect can increase them to 500,000.
Its latest initiative is the purchase of 100% of the Lisboa Racket Centre, a center specialized in rackets and racket games with which it seeks to establish itself in what is today one of the most popular sports . “The entry of Cristiano Ronaldo will not only be change the paradigm of padel in Portugal, but throughout the world”, assured the EFE the president of the Portuguese Paddle Federation (FPP), Ricardo Oliveira.
The manager did not want to give details on the exact figures of the operation, he limited himself to saying that it was “several million”, and attributed it to the interest that the footballer has developed for this sport in recent years. “Obviously, he plays football and trains his physique daily, but ‘secretly’ I’m told that He plays paddle tennis every day, “He loves paddle tennis,” Oliveira said.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a paddle tennis fan
The captain of the Portuguese team is not the only one passionate about this sport: more than 30 million people practice it around the world, which is a 150% increase in number of players over the last decade, according to data from the International Paddle Federation. In Portugal there are more than 300,000, a figure which, according to the FPP, could reach 500,000 thanks to the “Ronaldo effect”.
“Everything Cristiano puts on his social networks reached 1,000 million people. You can imagine what this means for a sport like ours, it’s incredible”, summed up Oliveira, who joked about the possibility of having to remove tennis courts to make way for paddle tennis courts in a not-so-future too distant. After more than 20 years at the highest level and more than 900 goals scored, Cristiano begins to take an interest in a game that is played in offices.
The acquisition of the Lisboa Racket Center This is the latest operation by his sports investment company, CR7 SA, aimed at growing its financial empire and increasing its influence in an emerging sport like paddle tennis. In September last year, the former Real Madrid footballer made public his connection with the Ciudad del Pádel de Oeiras, a sports complex in the Lisbon suburbs which will open in 2025 and of which Ronaldo controls 50% after provide 3 million euros of initial capital.
Oliveira explained that this is where a competitive Qatari tournament will take place for the next three years. Premier Padel, which absorbed its predecessor, the World Padel Tour, in 2023, and has become the professional circuit of reference at the international level. “At some point we would like, and I think it will be the case, that the godfather of this tournament and future tournaments in Portugal is Cristiano,” he concluded.
The Lisboa Racket Center is added to Ronaldo’s list of investments, which is not limited to sport and covers areas as varied as hospitality and hair health. The Saudi footballer from Al-Nassr controls these investments through different companies, such as CR7 Lifestyle or Ponta de Lança, and She usually seeks alliances with successful businessmen with long experience in their industry.
