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Was Al-Nassr really trophyless before Cristiano Ronaldo joined the club? Fact Check

Claim: Viral post claims that Al-Nassr FC was trophyless before Cristiano Ronaldo joined the club.

Conclusion: The claim is false. While Al-Nassr did win a notable trophy (the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup) after Ronaldo arrived, the claim that the club was “trophyless” in the previous years is not true. Al-Nassr won two consecutive Saudi Super Cup victories, the 2019 edition (played 4 January 2020 vs Al-Taawoun) and the 2020 edition (played 30 January 2021 vs Al-Hilal, 3–0). 

Rating: False


Social media users have claimed that Saudi Arabian football club Al-Nassr was trophyless before Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival into the club. Verified X user ‘Utdnsider’ shared such a post, with the claim that Al-Nassr was trophyless in 2020, 2021 and 2022 before Cristiano Ronaldo joined, then won the Arab Club Champions Cup in 2023. Attached to the post is an image of Ronaldo in an Al-Nassr kit holding a World Cup trophy plus other cups. View the post below – 

Other users have shared similar claims that can be seen here and here

FACT CHECK

DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. Although Al-Nassr added the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup after Ronaldo’s arrival, they had previously claimed back-to-back Saudi Super Cup titles by defeating Al-Taawoun in January 2020 and Al-Hilal 3–0 in January 2021.

Details : 

We first conducted a web search with the phrase “Al-Nassr trophies won in 2020” to learn more about the claim. According to the Saudi Super Cup Wikipedia page, In 2019, the Saudi Super Cup was held in Jeddah for the first time.

An archived news report confirms that the final was played on January 5, 2020 and “Al-Nasr Football Club won the Super Cup title for the first time in its history, after defeating Al-Taawon 5-4 on penalties, following a 1-1 draw” in the King Abdullah Stadium.” View a section from the report below –

Following this, we learnt from the same Wikipedia page that “On 30 January 2021, Al-Nassr defeated Al-Hilal 3–0 to win their second title.” They became the first team to win two consecutive titles and also set the record for the biggest goal margin.” A report by AFC confirms this and writes how “Al Nassr claimed their second consecutive Saudi Arabia Super Cup title after defeating fierce rivals Al Hilal SFC 3-0”.  Embedded in the report is the official X post by SaudiSuperCup congratulating Al-Nassr for this victory. View a section from the report below – 

In the 2022 calendar year (and 2021–22 season), Al-Nassr were trophyless and did not win a single cup. They ranked third in the Saudi Pro League according to their 2021-2022 Al-Nassr FC season Wikipedia page. So 2022 was indeed trophyless but the post’s claim for 2020, 2021 and 2022 without any trophies is false since they won championships before.

2020 – Saudi Super Cup won by Al-Nassr FC (Before Cristiano Ronaldo joined)
2021 – Saudi Super Cup won by Al-Nassr FC (Before Cristiano Ronaldo joined)
2022 – Saudi Super Cup won by Al-Hilal
2023 – Arab Club Champions Cup won by Al-Nassr (After Cristiano Ronaldo joined)

According to a BBC report , Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr FC on 30 December 2022, and signed a deal until 2025. Al-Nassr won the Arab Club Champions Cup in August 2023, defeating Al-Hilal 2–1 after extra time in the final as stated in the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup final Wikipedia page. An ESPN report also covered this, noting how Ronaldo “scored six times in the tournament to finish as its top scorer en route to the title.” View a section from the report below – 

Upon searching for the winners of the 2023- 2024 Saudi Pro League, we learnt that Al-Hilal were crowned the champions. Following this, Al-Ittihad won the 2024–25 Saudi Pro League which was their 10th title. The 2026 results have not been announced yet and according to a Bolavip report, “ Al Nassr need to win their final match of the season against Damac FC” on May 21, 2026 to win the 2025-2026 Saudi Pro League championship.

Thus, the claim is false.


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Shelton Rozario

Shelton Rozario is a final-year graduate student from the St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, enthusiastic in pursuing a career in journalism. He has joined Digiteye India in July 2025 as an Intern. He can be reached at sheltonr@digiteye.in More »

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