Ronaldo saga gathers pace

Cristiano Ronaldo seats on his team bench during a match between Juventus FC and K League All-Star at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, last Friday. Korea Times file

By John Duerden

Juventus may be back in Italy after its game against a K League All-Star eleven last Friday but the controversy that started in Seoul has followed one of Europe's biggest clubs all the way back west. If anything, it seems to be growing.

The team from Torino came to Seoul but played a 3-3 tie and left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for the full 90 minutes.

It is hard to say how many, but a fair proportion of the 63,000 fans or so who packed into Seoul World Cup Stadium paid top prices for tickets in order to see one of the best players in the sport's history. There had been plenty of media reports in the weeks leading up to the game that Ronaldo and Juventus had promised 45 minutes at least. At the age of 34, this was always likely to be the last chance for fans in Korea to see the player named the best in the world on five occasions.

There was anger and disappointment in the stadium when it became apparent that the former Manchester United and Real Madrid man was not going to leave the bench. The K League had given local agency TheFasta organizing and promoting duties for the game. Despite getting Juventus to sign a contract guaranteeing that Ronaldo would play 45 minutes, the agency has been threatened with a lawsuit from a law firm acting on behalf of thousands of fans who want to be compensated.

With ticket prices rising to as much as 400,000 won, plenty are out of pocket. Not Juve though. Even with the penalty clause that removes a quarter of its reported 3.5 billion won fee, the club was well-compensated for its short Korea stay.

Kim Min-ki is a lawyer who has been contacted by disgruntled fans and is seeking compensation. "Many purchased tickets to see Ronaldo,” Kim said. “TheFasta publicized that the company had a deal with Juventus which stipulated Ronaldo would play for at least 45 minutes and that Ronaldo would hold a fan signing event.”

TheFasta, whose website no longer seems to work, said that Juventus apologized for Ronaldo's no-show, though there does not seem to be any official response from the Italian club.

That may change in the coming days as the K League, who have apologized for the whole debacle, officially complained to the visitor. “We've sent a letter to Juventus to protest against the club's breach of contract, including Ronaldo's nonappearance," the K League's Kim Jin-hyung said. The official said that the letter accuses Juventus of being arrogant and irresponsible.

"The kick-off time was delayed about an hour and Ronaldo did not play. That's the problem," Kim said. "Juventus had been confident that they could hold the match on time despite their tight schedule."

It may be hard for Juventus ― who has been busy in the transfer market since returning to Italy ― to ignore an official letter, especially as it was also sent to the offices of Serie A. The Italian league is not as popular around the world as it once was. Upsetting one of Asia's leading soccer nations was not part of the PR plan.