An official confirmed that a Saudi real estate tycoon who bid $2.6 million at auction got a ticket to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi square off in a friendly.
A select team made up of players from Ronaldo’s new team Al Nassr and their Saudi rivals Al Hilal will meet Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday in Riyadh.
Ronaldo won’t have played any football in the kingdom since joining Al Nassr on a deal that extends through 2025 and is worth more than 200 million euros ($214 million), according to sources close to the club.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner will play his first Saudi Pro League game on Sunday for Al Nassr.
Turki al-Sheikh, a Royal Court advisor and the president of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, proposed a charity auction for an unique ticket that would come with benefits including access to the players’ locker rooms and opportunity for photos with them to promote Thursday’s friendly.
The auction ended at 11:30 p.m. (20:30 GMT) on Tuesday with bids starting at 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,000).
The winning bid of 10 million riyals ($2.6 million), made by Mushref al-Ghamdi, was subsequently revealed by Al-Sheikh on Twitter.
“Congratulations, you deserve it, and may God reward you with good,” Sheikh said.
The national charity initiative Ehsan is expected to benefit from the auction’s revenues.
Along with Messi, other PSG players expected to participate on Thursday include Kylian Mbappe of France and Achraf Hakimi, who helped Morocco become the first Arab and African team to advance past the quarterfinals of the World Cup last year in Qatar.
Salem al-Dawsari, who scored the winning goal in the Green Falcons’ shocking victory over Argentina in the World Cup group stage, is a member of the Saudi national team.