Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Al Nassr clinched the Saudi Pro League title with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday, ending his long wait for domestic silverware.

A trademark free-kick and a close-range finish, both in the final half-hour, sealed the win Al Nassr needed on the last night of the season, with Al Hilal finishing just two points behind.

Ronaldo, 41, who was without a major club trophy since winning Serie A with Juventus in 2020, arrived in the kingdom to great acclaim in 2023, wept as he watched the final minutes from the bench.

He adds the Saudi championship to his English, Spanish and Italian titles and five Champions League medals.

Al Nassr took a 2-0 lead but were back to 2-1 before Ronaldo’s free-kick on 63 minutes evaded the goalkeeper and a forest of legs to find the far corner.

He struck again nine minutes from time, receiving a cut-back on the edge of the six-yard box and smashing high into the net.

Next up for the all-time leading men’s international goalscorer, with 143 goals, is a sixth crack at the World Cup after he was named in Portugal’s squad this week.

Desert trailblazer

Ronaldo opened the door to a series of big-money Saudi signings when he joined Al Nassr in January 2023 following an unhappy second spell at Manchester United.

Neymar and Karim Benzema were among those to follow after Ronaldo inked a two-and-a-half-year deal estimated at 200 million euros, extended for two years in June 2025.

The stated aim was to turn the Pro League into one of the world’s top five football competitions measured by the quality of players, stadium attendances, and commercial success. International interest has been muted, however.

In December 2024, Saudi Arabia was confirmed as host of the 2034 World Cup, a coup as it pushes to decouple its economy from oil and attract business and tourists, partly via the buzz of sports.

With a record 664 million Instagram followers, Ronaldo has been a highly visible ambassador as Saudi Arabia tries to turn the page on the ultra-conservative image that has defined it for decades.

The world’s biggest oil exporter and home of Islam has been accused of “sportswashing” — using sport to deflect human rights criticism — as it has invested in Formula 1, golf, boxing, and tennis alongside football.

Some of the more outlandish spending on economic diversification, including sprawling tourist developments and NEOM, a futuristic city in the desert, is being reined in.

This month, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund said it was exiting the breakaway LIV Golf tour, after reportedly ploughing more than $5 billion into a venture that split the sport.

Expensive football signings have also waned with the stream of big-money transfers slowing to a trickle.

Tears and a protest

Ronaldo was the Pro League’s top scorer in his first two seasons, with his career tally now at 973 — tantalisingly close to the 1,000-goals milestone.

His Saudi stint has not always been smooth. In 2024, he was left in floods of tears when Al Nassr lost the King’s Cup final to Al Hilal on penalties, denying him his first Saudi title.

This season, he disappeared from Al Nassr’s line-up for three games in an apparent protest at Benzema´s transfer to rival team Al Hilal.

Al Hilal and Al Nassr were among the stable of Saudi teams owned by the Public Investment Fund, the country’s $900 billion sovereign wealth fund.

Before Thursday, Ronaldo’s only silverware with Al Nassr was the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup. He was also disappointed on Saturday, when Al Nassr lost to Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League Two final.

Austin Theory and Logan Paul have one of their biggest tests as world tag team champions this weekend as they defend their titles against The Street Profits at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Theory and Paul are members of The Vision – the top faction on “Monday Night Raw” featuring the future of the WWE. Bron Breakker may be the in-ring leader of the group as he made a thunderous return to the roster at WrestleMania 42 and then defeated Seth Rollins at Backlash. Theory and Paul are the ones with the gold while Paul Heyman is the mouthpiece for the next generation of superstars.

With the tag team title around his waist, Paul has now held gold twice in WWE since making his debut with the company in 2021. Paul has the tools that any pro wrestler dreams of – the athletic prowess in the ring coupled with immense heat from the crowd along with his skills on the mic.

Theory told Fox News Digital that Paul’s rise in the WWE has made it tougher for any outsider to come in and have success, suggesting the YouTube sensation has set the bar enormously high.

LOGAN PAUL’S JAW-DROPPING SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT WOW FANS AT WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

“I say with Logan Paul, with his athletic ability and his skills in wrestling and how he’s been able to just develop it so quick,” he said. “It’s impressive to me – somebody who’s wanted to be in WWE since I was eight, started training at 18, signed with the WWE at 22 and took that longer path. But I have to give Logan his respect. This is a dude, as a young kid, started with YouTube and streaming and pretty much – dude created YouTube. He put it on the map, his whole streaming thing.

“Kind of both of us building our dreams in different ways and kind of meeting in the middle. I just think he kinda just messed it up for everybody on the outside that wants to come into WWE and thinks like, ‘Oh wow, this is easy. Like, I can pick up a mic and talk trash and I can do these cool moves off the ropes like Logan Paul,’ but you can’t. There’s an art to it. Logan Paul is exceptional on the mic. In the ring, he does things even highflyers we have in WWE couldn’t even do. He’s just a phenomenal athlete. When it comes to me and Logan Paul, we’re freaks of nature. That’s why I say we’re gonna motivate everybody this Saturday at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Fort Wayne.”

The Vision, which also includes an injured Bronson Reed, is under the tutelage of Heyman, who has been a “wiseman” and an “advocate” for many young talents in WWE.

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Theory had the utmost confidence that Heyman was sending him and his stablemates in the right direction.

World Tag Team Champion Austin Theory enters the arena during Monday Night RAW at Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, N.C., on May 18, 2026. (Michael Owens/WWE)

“With Paul Heyman, you know, this history with him having Brock Lesnar, having Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins – you know, before he realized he was a loser,” he said. “Paul Heyman, man, he’s the ‘wiseman.’ I think anything that comes out of his mouth is gold and especially kind of molding The Vision and sending us in the right direction. I couldn’t ask for more. It’s just sitting under the knowledge tree of history. He’s from back in the 80s to present day. The dude’s done it all. I’m very grateful for the wiseman, Paul Heyman.”

Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins will challenge for the tag titles. The two returned to “Monday Night Raw” after WrestleMania 42 after a prolonged absence.

Theory gave them credit where credit is due. They are three-time WWE tag champions and won the tag titles at NXT and Evolve. However, Theory made clear that Ford and Dawkins are running into “the greatest tag team champions of the world.”

“Well, the Street Profits. They’ve been in the WWE a very long time,” he said. “Feels like too long, like 60 years. I do realize every time I have a title, they’re around, which makes sense because they’re irrelevant and I’m relevant. But not to push them too low down, they’re very athletic, they have a great resume. But it’s just that comparison to Austin Theory and Logan Paul – The Vision. The greatest tag team champions of the world, of the universe. You can’t really compare.

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World Tag Team Champions Austin Theory and Logan Paul stand alongside Bron Breakker and Paul Heyman during Monday Night RAW at Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, N.C., on May 18, 2026. (Michael Owens/WWE)

“Unfortunately, yes, I said unfortunately, the show is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I look at this match as more of a big motivational moment for those people because they’re gonna see two guys that don’t look like anybody from Fort Wayne. We look like freaking superheroes. We’re really there to inspire everybody and then after the match, get the hell out of there.”

Saturday Night’s Main Event will take place Saturday in Fort Wayne, Indiana, much to Theory’s chagrin. And, it’s a loaded card.

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Aside from the tag team title match, read below for how the rest of the card looks.

• Paige and Brie Bella (c) vs. Nia Jax and Lash Legend for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
• Becky Lynch vs. Sol Ruca.
• Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab.
• Penta (c) vs. Ethan Page for the Intercontinental Championship.

There is no clear-cut favorite heading into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but if you ask Fox Sports analyst Alexi Lalas who he believes will lift the trophy at the end of the tournament, he’ll give you one answer.

“I don’t care who wins as long as it’s not England,” he said during Fox Sports’ FIFA World Cup 2026 Media Day on Wednesday in New York City. “I can abide by a lot of things happening this summer, but one thing I cannot is having England come over on our shores, on our 250th birthday of what I feel is the greatest country in the world, and for them to win a World Cup.

“If you think they’re insufferable now, could you imagine they came over and won that World Cup and it’s coming home through our country. I cannot have that, so anybody but England.”

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The U.S.-England rivalry in soccer was in full force in 2022, when they were pitted against each other in their group stage in Qatar. It was a 0-0 draw in a hard-fought match for both sides, but in 2026, they’ll have to get out of their respective groups if they are to meet in the tournament.

But Lalas couldn’t imagine England taking home its first World Cup since 1966 — the country’s only victory in the tournament of all tournaments.

US SOCCER GREAT THINKS AMERICAN TEAM CAN SHOCK THE WORLD AT UPCOMING WORLD CUP

There is no denying, though, how great the English squad will be this year, as Lalas knows.

“They’re really good,” he said. “As much as it pains me to say, they are very, very good. The soccer gods have a wicked sense of humor. Please not England, anybody but England.”

Lalas’ Fox Sports colleague, host Rebecca Lowe, is a West Londoner who has dreamed of her country winning it all since she can remember.

“Every four years of my play since 1990, I think about England winning the World Cup,” she said after Lalas’ rant. “So, I’m now getting to a stage where if I now go against them, they’re going to do it.

“I’m going to be courageous. It is going to come home.”

Commentator and former player Alexi Lalas looks on before the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025 final between the United States and Mexico at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on July 6, 2025. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)

Lowe and Lalas said that they will have a bet in place once the tournament begins where, if England does indeed win it all, the latter will have to do something and vice versa.

Carli Lloyd, Stu Holden, and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez also gave their predictions about who would win. Hernandez was on Lowe’s side believing England could win it all, though he hopes his home country, fellow host site Mexico, can do so instead.

Lloyd and Holden both think France, which fell in penalties to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup Final, will get the job done at MetLife Stadium in July.

“The French, I just look at this team, they continue to get stronger. When they go down a generation, the next generation comes,” Holden said.

Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas speaks at the FOX Sports 2018 FIFA World Cup Celebration on Sept. 26, 2017, at ArtBeam in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for FOX Sports)

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“I’m going to go with France as well,” Lloyd added shortly after. “The depth, the experience. I know firsthand losing in 2011 at the World Cup, coming back and really having that desire to really want to win in 2015. There’s something about that.”

The panel was hopeful the U.S. men’s national team can make a run on home soil, but it’s hard to deny the talent level elsewhere as the best players and countries in the world converge on North America in just a few weeks.

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