Soccer star Ronaldo apologizes after games called off

After calling China his "second home", soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and organizers of his club's exhibition tour in China have left fans fuming after abruptly calling off two friendly games on very short notice.

The games between Ronaldo's club — Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League — and Chinese Super League's Shanghai Shenhua and Zhejiang FC, scheduled for Wednesday and Sunday, respectively, in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, were "indefinitely postponed" due to a health issue suffered by the Portuguese superstar, organizers of the event announced on Tuesday.

The sudden postponement, only confirmed on the eve of the first game, left Ronaldo's Chinese fans hugely disappointed. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner sparked massive excitement across China over his first visit to the country since 2019, resulting in tickets for the two games selling out within hours.

Before his arrival in China, the media in Saudi Arabia reported that Ronaldo had suffered a calf injury while training, and would need at least two weeks for treatment and rehabilitation. Chinese organizers, though, reiterated that they were only told by Al-Nassr on Monday night that Ronaldo couldn't play, after all preparations were made for the star striker to play both games as articulated in the event contract.

Neither the Saudi club nor the Chinese organizers gave any further details on Ronaldo's condition, only expressing deep regret while apologizing to fans at a brief media conference.

"For me, today is a sad day. I want to say sorry to the Chinese fans, especially in Shenzhen," Ronaldo said at the news conference on Tuesday.

"In football, there is always something you cannot control. ... I am really sad because Al-Nassr and myself have come here to enjoy the tour. I've been coming to China since 2003, or 2004, I feel at home here. I feel this is my second home.

"We are not canceling the game. We just postpone the game. We will be back."

Ronaldo refused to answer any questions after his opening remarks, insisting that he had "said everything and clarified everything".

Hours after the decision was announced, videos emerged on Chinese social media showing hundreds of fans surrounding Al-Nassr's hotel in Shenzhen, chanting Ronaldo's name while angrily calling out organizers for a more reasonable explanation.

"It's impossible that they only learned about Ronaldo's health problems one night before the match. I feel like we've all been kept in the dark as they didn't want to disrupt all the prematch marketing events and sponsorship activities," said Zhao Jiatong, a member of Ronaldo's fan club in Shanghai, who bought two tickets for the Wednesday match, each for 2,880 yuan ($400).

In an interview with Shenzhen TV before the Al-Nassr contingent landed on Sunday, Deng Hongfei, vice-president of the tour's co-organizer G.H.Y. Culture & Media, confirmed that Ronaldo would play both games.

Although organizers had promised that all sold tickets could be refunded and expenses incurred by fans on travel and hotels would be covered as well, die-hard Ronaldo fans remain disgruntled, claiming their wasted time and, more importantly, the emotions they had devoted can never be compensated.

"I am totally speechless. I came all the way from Shanghai to Shenzhen only to be told that this whole thing had been called off at the last minute?" China's former national women's team player Li Jiayue, a known Ronaldo fan, complained on social media platform Sina Weibo.

"The money and our time spent on this, they didn't come cheap. They've treated us lightly. I am so pissed off," she said in a video message.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn