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Saudi real estate mogul won a ticket to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi play in a friendly after bidding $2.6 million at auction.
The match on Thursday in Riyadh will pit Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain against a select team comprised of players from Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr and their Saudi rivals Al Hilal.
Ronaldo will play football in the kingdom since signing a contract with Al Nassr that runs until 2025. It is worth more than 200 million euros ($214 million), according to club sources.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is debuting his Saudi Pro League debut for Al Nassr on Sunday.
Turki al-Sheikh, an adviser at the Royal Court and the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced a charity auction for a special ticket that would include perks such as photo opportunities with players and access to the locker rooms to promote Thursday’s friendly.
The auction began at 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,000) and ended at 11:30 p.m. (20:30 GMT) on Tuesday.
Al-Sheikh made official announcement on twitter about Mushref al-Ghamdi’s winning bid of 10 million riyals ($2.6 million).
“Congratulations, you deserve it, and God bless you,” Sheikh said.
The national charity initiative known as Ehsan will receive the auction’s revenues.
Aside from Messi, PSG players expected to play on Thursday include France striker Kylian Mbappe. Achraf Hakimi will also join them after helping Morocco become the first Arab and African team to reach the World Cup semifinals last year in Qatar.
The Saudi select team includes Salem al-Dawsari. He scored game-winning goal in the Green Falcons’ shock group-stage victory over Argentina.
