Cristiano Ronaldo has been introduced as the newest member of Al-Nassr, but fans shouldn't expect him to make his debut any time soon.
While Ronaldo did say that he wants to immediately suit up for the club when they play on Thursday against Al-Tai, he actually needs to serve the two-game suspension he received when he was still with Manchester United.
To recall, Ronaldo got the punishment after smacking an Everton fan's phone last April. In November–seven months after the incident–the English Football Association levied their ruling on the matter and handed him the suspension along with a fine worth around $60,000.
As everyone knows, Ronaldo was unable to serve that ban when he was still with the Red Devils after his explosive Piers Morgan interview led to his exit from the club.
FIFA's regulation for transfer players–found at Article 12.1–enforces the ban on Ronaldo even though he's now in the Saudi Pro League, as cited by the Manchester Evening News: “Any disciplinary sanction of up to four matches or up to three months that has been imposed on a player by the former association but not yet (entirely) served by the time of the transfer shall be enforced by the new association at which the player has been registered in order for the sanction to be served at domestic level.”
Al-Nassr's next game after Thursday is on January 14 against Al-Shabbab. But given the ban, the earliest Cristiano Ronaldo could play is on January 21 against Ettifaq.
With that said, Al-Nassr fans will have to wait for a couple more weeks before they can finally watch their new $200 million man.
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