Otherwise, what happens?



His absence will have a sporting and economic nuance, as estimated by expert analysts. "It would be a disaster for him," Portuguese journalists already claim. But on the other hand, his compatriot Paulo Futre, a former international ball artist, is optimistic because "Cristiano is never absent from a big event and I do not think he will miss it now, but he has two finals left. "The play-offs are a disappointment for all Portuguese, but it's time to get up."

It is definitely difficult to see a World Cup with 32 teams and 800 players without the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Mark Mansen, director and founder of 2Playbook, a business platform for the sports industry, estimates that Cristiano "after moving from Juventus, once again managed to attract attention by moving to United, which was another glimpse for him. "It would be difficult not to be in Qatar, more from an athletic point of view, than for advertising purposes."

It is noteworthy that in the first hours of his return to United, more than 350,000 shirts with his name were sold, a number beyond expectations. "Cristiano does not need to prove anything to anyone. But for him it would be a very hard blow, very, very hard. It would be a great disappointment ", added Futre, while Nuno Luz said: "Psychologically he is very strong, he is his best feature. He is able to transform very bad moments into other very good ones. It finds strength from where it does not exist ".

In any case, Cristiano Ronaldo is a global trade symbol, an additional reason for his presence in Qatar to be not only a great expectation of his own. "King" on social media, since of the aforementioned 367 million followers on Instagram, he is approaching 96 million on Twitter.

In the World Cup in Russia he was the third most mentioned, after Neymar and Messi, with the advantage for the Brazilian that he was the one who endured more, reaching the quarterfinals.

A very simple "tweet" from CR7 during that event: "Let's go family", gathered almost half a million "likes".

Thanks to Cristiano, Portugal was the 5th most famous team, behind Brazil, France, Argentina and England. A recent SportsPro study also ranked Cristiano Ronaldo as the 6th most marketable athlete based on frequency, loyalty, demographics and fan base. In the first two places of the ranking are Simone Bales and Naomi Osaka.

At the same time, Cristiano, with commercial relations with Nike, Clear, Herbalife, MTG and Unilever, among other companies, also with participation in the hotel chain Pestana CR7 and in the hair industry with Insparya, knows the impact and the consequences that the in his absence, in the sponsorship agreements.

"I do not think it is important in terms of money and publicity. It is more important for his participation in the event than for his income. It is also played in an area of ​​the planet that adores him ", notes Nuno Luz.

The "showcase" of a World Cup creates a huge volume. According to FIFA, 3.572 billion people connected for at least a minute with the event in Russia in 2018. In the final, between France and Croatia, 1.120 billion spectators entered each screen type to watch it.

The reasons are many. And important. Cristiano Ronaldo does not want to taste the bitter taste that Di Stefano before him in 1958 or Johan Cruyff in 1970. And many others do not want it with him, more than his millions of fans. We'll see….