(AFP) – Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and billionaire Elon Musk were among the guests at a lavish White House dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump for the visiting Saudi crown prince on Tuesday. Ronaldo plays for Saudi club Al Nassr, one of a number of aging players who have been attracted to the desert kingdom’s heavy spending on stars despite its rights record.
The 40-year-old, whose contract with the Saudi club ends this summer, took his place near the head of Trump’s table a few seconds before the president and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman entered. “You know, my son is a big fan of Ronaldo,” Trump said in his pre-dinner speech, adding that his soccer-mad son Barron, 19, got to meet the legendary player. “I think he respects his father a little bit more now, just the fact that I introduced you.”
Ronaldo was not the only soccer-related dinner guest, as FIFA chief Gianni Infantino made yet another appearance at the White House ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting. Ronaldo says next year’s World Cup — for which Portugal booked their place on Sunday — will “definitely” be his last.
Also at the black-tie dinner was Space X and Tesla tycoon Musk, in a sign that the rift between the president and the world’s richest man has healed after their fiery public divorce. South African-born Musk spent five months as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and accompanied Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia in May. But the relationship collapsed in July after Musk criticized Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill and then said that the president was in investigatory files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump responded by threatening Musk with deportation.
Musk, wearing a tuxedo, was seen chatting to fellow guests at a candlelit table — although a different one from Trump’s. During the dinner, Trump also praised the Saudi prince as a “man of leadership,” having earlier defended his royal visitor over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
© 2024 AFP
