Cristiano Ronaldo: The Five-Year Financial Battle With Former Club

Juventus have launched one final appeal of the case against them involving unpaid salary to Cristiano Ronaldo, the Serie A club have revealed.

When Ronaldo left Juventus for Manchester United in the summer of 2021, it was argued that he was entitled to a total of €19.6 million ($21.9 million at the current exchange rate) in deferred wages leftover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Three years later, a court found in Ronaldo’s favor and ordered Juve to pay half of that sum. It was decided that the club had not intentionally tried to sabotage Ronaldo’s earnings, while the player himself did not actually request the money when he left the club.

That brought about an appeal from Juve which was, once again, settled in Ronaldo’s favor earlier this year—Ronaldo did lose his own appeal for the full amount to be paid—and the case is not over just yet as Juve have opted for one final appeal to Italy’s Court of Cassation, the highest level of appeal available.

In the club’s financial report for the 2025–26 season, Juve confirmed they are still awaiting a date for their final appeal.

“The decision was limited to a review of the formal defects in the award reported in the appeal, and is not a decision on the merits of the case,” Juve stated. “As such, it does not entail a change to the conclusions reached by the award.

“In any case, the economic and financial effects resulting from the award have already been reflected in the Company’s accounts since the 2023–2024 financial year and therefore no negative impacts on the current or future financial statements are expected.

“Juventus has appealed against this ruling to the Supreme Court, which was duly notified on March 27, 2026, and a hearing date is pending.”

The Juventus Argument Against Cristiano Ronaldo

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not uncommon for clubs that lost all matchday income due to closed stadiums to strike agreements to defer their players’ salaries to help them navigate a financially challenging period. Documents shown to the courts proved such an agreement between Juventus and Ronaldo in the 2020–21 season.

The issues started after Ronaldo left the club in 2021. Juventus did not pay the leftover salary, arguing the forward had confirmed they had no further financial commitment to him, and Ronaldo did not immediately request the funds until sending a letter which became infamous in Italian media with the not-so-creative nickname of “the Ronaldo letter.”

The details only came out during a separate investigation into financial misconduct against Juve in 2022, which brought the resignations of president Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedvěd and the entire board of directors.

It subsequently emerged that the agreement between Juve and Ronaldo did not actually include the Portugal international’s signature and was not therefore legally binding.

Juve continue to argue that, because there was no official deferral agreement and Ronaldo did not request the funds in negotiations over his exit, they should not have had to pay. That argument already failed to win over one court but they are trying one final time.

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