Cristiano Ronaldo is celebrating Saudi National Day in full traditional dress including a white thobe, red and white ghutra, and black bisht, in a video released by his football club, Al Nassr FC.
The football star, along with his Senegalese teammate Sadio Mane, are seen wearing the thobes as their teammates also take part in traditional dances while wielding ceremonial swords.
The just over two-and-a-half-minute video shows three fans making their way through the club and spotting several players engaging in traditional Saudi activities. Al Nassr teammates Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Nawaf Alaqidi are on the drums, while goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah and Portuguese midfielder Otavio share an Arabic coffee.
However, it’s Ronaldo who is the star of the show, performing the Ardah folk dance with teammates Marcelo Brozovic, Abdullah Alkhaibari and Sultan Al Ghanam.
On Twitter, the video is captioned as: “All together. For one flag. We dream, and achieve”, with a number of emojis following it. At the time of writing, it had been watched more than 1.4 million times since being uploaded early on Friday.
Ronaldo joined Saudi club Al Nassr FC in December after signing a two-and-a-half-year deal reportedly worth more than $200 million a year.
Since moving to Saudi Arabia, the celebrity footballer and his family (partner Georgina Rodriguez and their five children) have been enthusiastic about immersing themselves in the local culture.
His son Cristiano Jr, 12, went viral in February for wearing a thobe with a two-button collar and a baseball cap, in a selfie with his grandmother. A week later, Ronaldo also donned a thobe with an intricately embroidered navy blue and gold robe, or daqlah, over it as he celebrated the country’s Founding Day.
A thobe, or thawb, is an ankle-length robe with long sleeves, commonly worn by men in the Gulf region. In the UAE, it is known as a kandura, while in Kuwait, Iraq and Oman it is sometimes called a dishdasha.
Even Rodriguez has updated her wardrobe to suit their new lifestyle and has often been pictured wearing an abaya as part of her ensemble.
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
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From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
