Cristiano Ronaldo likely ranks at the top of soccer stars who aren’t feeling that sad after not winning the 2018 World Cup. The Portuguese living legend has had plenty to keep him occupied after his country exited this year’s competition — most notably, his move from Real Madrid to Juventus in a $129.3 million deal.
Before he has even stepped on the field or kicked a ball in his new team’s uniform, Adidas, which sponsors Juventus, has already sold over $60 million worth of his new jersey, according to a report from Business Insider.
Even more astounding, it all happened within the first 24 hours of the new shirt hitting the market. That’s over 520,000 units in one day. Adidas makes the bulk of the profit from the merchandise, as Juventus itself stands to only make $6 million to $9 million from these initial sales. But Ronaldo fever hitting the Italian club left much else for the franchise to celebrate, as it also enjoyed a 40% surge in stock prices and gained over 1 million new Instagram followers since his signing.
Adidas may be the outfitter for Juventus, but Ronaldo is still a Nike athlete. In fact, he arrived in China on Thursday to kick off his second tour of the country to greet adoring fans and promote his latest products. A China-exclusive collection of his latest signature footwear will be available to celebrate the tour, including the Mercurial Superfly Elite FG CR7 cleat, decorated with a “Fire Dragon” graphic, the Mercurial Vapor Academy TF CR7, designed specifically for young players, and the Nike FC CR7 for street play. All special-edition models come bearing a new Chinese-character version of Ronaldo’s famed CR7 mark: C罗. According to Nike, “the logo suggests the player’s capacity to galvanize — metaphorically, to breath fire into —Chinese football.”
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