FIFA Bans Al Nassr from Registering New Players

Cristiano Ronaldo's current team, Al Nassr, has been prohibited by FIFA from adding new players to their roster. This is due to their failure to pay £390,000 in additional fees to Leicester City for the transfer of Nigerian player Ahmed Musa, who joined Al Nassr in 2018.

Al Nassr received a notice in 2021 informing them that they must settle the outstanding payment to Leicester City. Failure to comply with this requirement would result in a three-period ban on registering new players.

Recently, Al Nassr appointed Luís Castro as their coach while they were in a preseason training camp in Portugal. However, the details of the coach's contract were not disclosed. Luís Castro is a 61-year-old Portuguese coach known for his successful tenure at Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, including victories over Real Madrid in the 2020-21 Champions League group stage. He spent the previous season coaching Botafogo in Brazil.

Al Nassr has made the signing of Marcelo Brozovic from Inter Milan and has been linked with a potential transfer of Hakim Ziytech from Chelsea.

It is worth mentioning that Al Nassr, along with three other top Saudi clubs, was recently majority-owned by the sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF), effectively becoming nationalized. PIF, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, claims to have assets worth around $700 billion.