According to several social media posts, the Saudi football club Al-Nassr sacked Uzbek midfielder Jaloliddin Masharipov for refusing to give the team's newest addition, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, his jersey number.
But this is untrue: Before Ronaldo arrived, Masharipov changed to the number 77 jersey. The Uzbek player may quit the squad, but a club spokesperson insisted that this would have nothing to do with Ronaldo's shirt and instead be due to Saudi football league rules restricting the number of international players.
On January 1, 2023, a tweet was sent that has already been retweeted more than 7,900 times, reading, "Apparently this man didn't want to give away his number 7 shirt to Ronaldo thus the club cancelled his contract."
The tweet has images of Ronaldo showing off his new Al-Nassr club shirt with his name and the number 7 on the back and Masharipov showing off his yellow Al-Nassr jersey. The assertion surfaced elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter (see here and here). It was refuted here and disseminated in French as well.
Ronaldo signed a two-year contract with the Saudi football team Al-Nassr after his "mutual consent" contract with Manchester United was terminated. He was given the jersey number 7 that had previously belonged to Masharipov.
At his previous organisations Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, and with the Portuguese national team, Ronaldo sported the number 7.
However, it is untrue that Al-Nassr cancelled Masharipov's contract because he refused to give up his jersey number.
Change of shirt
When contacted by AFP Fact Check, an official from the Al-Nassr club refuted the assertion and claimed that Masharipov had already consented to switch from his original number of 7 to 77.
Indeed, before Ronaldo's formal statement on December 30, 2022, that he would be joining the squad, the star uploaded a number of images on Instagram and the club's official Facebook account in which he was seen donning the number 77 shirt.
Later, on January 3, 2023, when Ronaldo was introduced to the club's supporters, Masharipov shared a picture of himself and the Portuguese superstar, both of whom were grinning. Masharipov referred to the two players' respective jersey numbers by writing "7/77" in the caption.
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