Social media users circulated a video whose publishers claimed that it shows the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo announcing his intention to convert to Islam after his recent transfer to the Saudi club Al-Nasr.
In the video, Cristiano Ronaldo appeared during what appeared to be a press conference, and he attached the clip with a translation into Arabic, in which he stated that he is considering embracing Islam and is affected by hearing the call to prayer in Saudi Arabia.
The truth of the video Agence France-Presse stated that the video dates back to a press conference for Ronaldo in 2018, during which he was talking about his happiness at joining the Italian club Juventus, after cutting the video into fixed scenes.
In the original version of the video, what Ronaldo said in English can be heard as follows “I’m very happy to be here and I’m still adapting to the club and to Serie A, it’s different but I’m having fun and my teammates are helping me.”.
Ronaldo, who had recently moved to Italian club Juventus, was speaking during a press conference before a match against Manchester United in the Champions League.
The video publishers deliberately concealed the original audio and replaced it with an unfounded Arabic translation.
Since the announcement of Ronaldo’s transfer to the Saudi club Al-Nasr at the end of 2022, a group of misleading news has been raised around him and his family, and the Agence France-Presse news checking service refuted a number of them.
