Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to visit White House, coinciding with Saudi prince’s visit

Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr celebrates at Al Awwal Park Stadium on August 22, 2024, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday — the same day Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits for a full day of events with the president, two White House officials told CNN.

Ronaldo, who plays in the Saudi Pro League, has scored 143 international goals for Portugal and is the first male player to score at five World Cups. Earlier this year, he became the sport’s first billionaire player following a contract he signed with Al Nassr, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ronaldo’s trip to the White House comes as Trump plans to welcome the Saudi prince with all the trappings of a state visit, including a welcome ceremony and formal dinner.

The visit cannot be classified as an official state visit, however, as Prince bin Salman is not Saudi Arabia’s head of state. It will include a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and lunch.

This is the crown prince’s first trip to the White House in more than seven years and the first since the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. A CIA assessment released afterward found the prince had likely ordered the assassination, though he has long denied any involvement.

The occasion also appears to be a rare visit to the US for Ronaldo. He last played in the US in August 2014, when he played for European giant Real Madrid against another of his former clubs, Manchester United, on a summer preseason tour in Michigan.

Ronaldo has previously faced legal troubles in the US over allegations that he raped a woman in Las Vegas in 2009. Ronaldo has always vehemently denied the allegations and said the encounter was consensual. Charges were never brought by local authorities, and a civil case against the Portuguese star was dismissed in 2022 due to “misconduct” by the plaintiff’s attorney. Since then, Ronaldo has appeared to make no public appearances in the US.

2026 World Cup to be Ronaldo’s last

Ronaldo recently told CNN that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will “definitely” be his last.

“I will be 41 years old, and I think (this) will be the moment in the big competition,” the five-time UEFA Champions League winner told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview at the Tourise Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week.

The superstar also confessed to CNN that he will likely hang up his cleats on his legendary career soon: “Let’s be honest, when I mean soon, it’s probably one or two years I’ll still be (in) the game.”

The expanded 48-team World Cup, the largest in history, kicks off on June 11, 2026, and is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

The World Cup draw is scheduled for December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Trump has regularly touted bringing the World Cup to the US, including during an event in the Oval Office on Monday with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

CNN’s Patrick Sung Cuadrado contributed to this report.