Rubi Opens the Door to Cristiano Playing for Almería: 'This Is His Club'
Almería boss Rubi has welcomed Cristiano Ronaldo's 25% stake in the club and refused to rule out the Portuguese icon one day pulling on the red and white shirt.
Cristiano Ronaldo buying into a Segunda División side is already the most bonkers football story of 2025, and Almería manager Rubi wasn’t about to let a pre-match press conference pass without being grilled on every angle of it.
The News That Broke the Internet (and Almería)
The club confirmed this morning that Cristiano has acquired a 25% stake in UD Almería through his investment vehicle CR7 Sports Investments. It’s a massive deal for a club punching away in Spain’s second tier, and it’s the kind of move that puts little Almería on the global football map overnight.
Rubi had a press conference scheduled anyway — Almería face Albacete on Friday — but let’s be honest, nobody was there to talk about Albacete.
Rubi’s Reaction: Buzzing, Basically
The Catalan gaffer was clearly well chuffed about the whole thing. He welcomed Ronaldo warmly, pointing to the Portuguese’s deep knowledge of the game and his existing relationship with the club’s ownership group as reasons to be optimistic. He made clear this isn’t just a vanity project — he sees genuine sporting value in having someone of Cristiano’s stature involved at boardroom level.
- He described the news as exciting not just for the club, but for the city and the wider province of Almería
- He acknowledged he’d had some prior knowledge of the deal but brushed off questions about the exact timeline, saying what matters is that Ronaldo is now part of the family
- He was at pains to frame this as part of a broader, ongoing growth story at the club rather than a one-off PR stunt
Could CR7 Actually Play for Almería?
This is where it gets properly interesting. Someone — fair play to them — asked Rubi whether there’s any world in which Cristiano Ronaldo actually laces up his boots for the Rojiblancos before he hangs them up for good.
Rubi didn’t laugh it off. He said it would be “something extraordinary and very beautiful” and that whoever is manager at the time would welcome him with open arms. He was dead clear on that.
Is it likely? Probably not. The bloke is at Al-Nassr, earning telephone numbers in Saudi Arabia. But stranger things have happened in football, and the fact that Rubi didn’t dismiss it out of hand will have Almería fans dreaming.
The ‘New Money’ Noise Doesn’t Bother Him
Rubi also addressed the inevitable sniping that comes whenever a club like Almería makes a big splash. The “nouveau riche” label, the raised eyebrows from traditionalists — he’s heard it all before and he’s not losing any sleep over it.
His argument is straightforward:
- The real winners are the province and the club itself
- Investment that raises the quality of Spanish football is a good thing, full stop
- If it generates envy elsewhere, that’s someone else’s problem
It’s a sensible, grounded take. Almería have been building quietly for years, and this is the highest-profile chapter yet in that story. Whether Cristiano ever sets foot on the pitch at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos is almost beside the point — his name alone changes the conversation around this club entirely.