It seemed inevitable when he left European football for the Saudi millionaire's project, but it took much longer than expected.
Between millionaire investments, squad revolutions and successive disappointments, it was Jorge Jesus who finally fulfilled his promise made at the start of the season and handed the national team captain the first trophy of the CR7-era on Saudi soil.
Cristiano Ronaldo's interview with Piers Morgan went down in history. The break-up with Manchester United paved the way for a surprising move to Saudi Arabia, which changed the career of the Portuguese legend forever, but also the history of football.
It's true that Saudi football were already going through a period of change, with the promise of convincing established players to leave European football to fill their bags with money in Asia. But it was when Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr that the real revolution began.
The transfer of one of the greatest figures in the history of football to Saudi Arabia opened the door for several stars, from the same generation or more recent ones, to follow suit. However, it also turned out to be Ronaldo's own curse.
Al Hilal: The thorn in his side
The first few months were still dreamy. Under Rudi Garcia, Al Nassr stayed alive in the fight for the championship, but it was the following summer when the Cristiano effect was felt in earnest at the club and in the Saudi league itself.
In 2023/24, the club officialised the arrival of Luis Castro, who left Botafogo in the middle of a possible title in Brazil, and invested more than 150 million euros in signing players like Otavio, Aymeric Laporte, Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Seko Fofana.
However, neither this nor CR7's 35 league goals were enough to stop a dominant Al Hilal, who finished 14 points clear of the runners-up and in the Guinness World Records (for the most consecutive men’s football wins).
With Jorge Jesus at the helm, the Riyadh giants spent close to 400 million euros to bring in Neymar, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Malcom, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Bono, and finished the league with an unblemished record - 31 wins, three draws and zero defeats.
Far from fighting for the championship, Al Nassr still had one last chance to give Cristiano Ronaldo his first title on Saudi soil, but again came up against the same opponent. Al Hilal won the cup on penalties, with Bono standing out, and the captain's tears at the end of the match summed up a season of frustration.
Further from titles, closer to records... on YouTube
In the year of the Club World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo saw Al Hilal's reduced investment and Al Nassr's gamble as motivation to reach the medals.
Al Hilal reduced their investment after the arrival of a large number of stars, and Al Nassr went back to the market to fill gaps in the squad. Bento arrived to take over in goal, and, back in January, Jhon Duran was signed for 77 million euros to rekindle hope for the second half of the season.
But the season turned out even worse...
Ronaldo once again finished top scorer in the league, this time with 25 goals, but Al Nassr never really got into the title race. The team, now under Stefano Pioli, again finished more than 10 points behind champions Al Ittihad and finished in third place behind Al Hilal.
As well as missing out on the title, Al Nassr fell to Kawasaki Frontale in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League in surprising fashion.
In addition, the season began with disappointment in their first chance at the title, as they were beaten 4-1 in the Super Cup final by the previous season's executioners, Al Hilal, weeks after CR7 had created... a YouTube channel.
The irony was inevitable. The player who revolutionised Saudi football was still unable to win titles in the country while discussing the possibility of overtaking YouTuber MrBeast in terms of subscribers.
Jorge Jesus turns the tide
After two and a half seasons at Al Nassr, the Portuguese international's trophy cabinet remained empty.
The individual numbers were impressive, the goals multiplied, and the records were broken, but the titles remained on the other side of town, which fuelled rumours of a possible departure in the summer, even with the Club World Cup in mind.
However, with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, a Nations League triumph on his CV and the goal of 1,000 goals looming ever larger, Ronaldo decided to remain loyal to the Saudi project. But not without increasing his influence within the club.
After Luis Castro, Al Nassr once again bet on a Portuguese coach who knew Saudi football perfectly. Jorge Jesus met with CR7 and paired him with Joao Felix. The pair began to show chemistry early on and were even replicated in the national team.
At the same time, the Portuguese captain's influence became even more evident behind the scenes. Jose Semedo, a close friend of Ronaldo's, was promoted from technical director to general manager of the club, a clear sign of the forward's weight in Al Nassr's structure.
Jorge Jesus' complaints about the lack of reinforcements, coupled with Ronaldo's discontent with an alleged favouritism towards Al Hilal, created an atmosphere of instability at a time when the title finally seemed possible. The Portuguese player even went on leave in protest, rekindling doubts about his future.
Only this time, Al Nassr didn't fall.
In a season in which investment was lower, judgment proved to be the key to the Riyadh outfit taking the lead in the league for much of the season and not even the issues surrounding Ronaldo, who was out for a few weeks through injury, took away Jorge Jesus' confidence.
Before the title match, the charismatic Portuguese coach wasn't afraid to tease his former club by saying, "I'm the person who knows Al Hilal best, I'm the one who built the team."
What is certain is that, after years of millionaire investment, squad revolutions, frustrations and heartbreaking defeats, Jorge Jesus has finally fulfilled the promise he brought to Riyadh: to give titles to Cristiano Ronaldo, the player who changed Saudi football, but who needed almost three years to finally win in Arabia.