By Mark Baber
January 16 – Ronaldo’s conquest of the Golden Ball, football’s top individual honour, will have added five to ten million euros to the value of his CR7 brand, probably taking his value over the 60 million euro mark, according to Professor Daniel Sá, author of a IPAM School of Marketing study.
According to the IPAM annual survey for 2014, CR7 was valued at 54 million euros and following award of the coveted Balon d’Or Sá told local media, “It is estimated that the conquest of the Golden Ball will itself automatically add five to ten million to Cristiano Ronaldo’s value.”
Whether Ronaldo’s value will exceed 60m euros, “will depend on how injuries and achievements add up. I think we he can greatly exceed the 2014 value,” said Daniel Sá.
The IPAM valuation, known as the Sports Reputation Index (SRI), is calculated using an algorithm which includes income (salary, sponsorship and image rights), references to CR7 on TV, radio, newspapers and online around the world, and research on internet search engines.
It on social networks that CR7 reaches the maximum size, with 104 million fans on Facebook, 102 million references on Google, 32 million Twitter followers and two million videos on YouTube.
Ronaldo’s brand value has increased rapidly in recent years in tandem with his achievements on the pitch from 24.5 million euros in value in 2011 to 43 million in 2013 to 54 million in 2014.
On Thursday, Ronaldo was voted Portugal’s best player ever by the Portuguese Football Federation and according to Sá, his fame now extends well beyond the world of sports with “Everything indicating that the CR7 brand has yet to arrive at its full potential, as it has all the right conditions to keep growing.”