The Saudi club of Al-Nassr, where the five-time Ballon d’Or Cristiano Ronaldo plays, is banned from recruiting until it has settled its debts, a brake on the sporting ambitions of the rich oil country, Fifa said on Thursday. The Saudi training “is currently prevented from registering new players due to unpaid debts”, explained a spokesperson, confirming information from the British daily The Mirror.
The world body did not specify the amount and origin of these debts, the starting point of this ban, or whether it jeopardized the transfer of Croatian midfielder from Inter Milan Marcelo Brozovic, who signed at the start July in Al-Nassr. “The prohibitions in question will be lifted as soon as the settlement of the debts is confirmed by the confirmed creditors”, only added the spokesperson.
Al-Nassr, which sees the arrival of Portuguese coach Luis Castro from Botafogo this summer, also has Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo and Argentinian striker Gonzalo Martinez in its squad.
But in October 2021, the Fifa Players’ Status Commission ordered Al Nassr to pay English club Leicester 460,000 euros plus interest in a dispute over the transfer of Nigerian Ahmed Musa, concluded for a total of 18 million euros. euros. According to this decision, in the event of non-payment, Al-Nassr could be deprived of recruitment for a period of up to three seasons.
