UEFA: Al Nassr 3rd most popular club in the world thanks to CR7

UEFA are considering inviting Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr to next season's Champions League, reports from Saudi Arabia have claimed.

Last week, Ronaldo scored his 13th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign as Al Nassr beat Al Wehda 3-1 to move level on four points with leaders Al Hilal.

While the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has been electrifying this season, his performances have been far from the luster of many European fans. That may not be the case for long, however.

According to Saudi journalist AlHarbi44 on X, formerly known as Twitter, UEFA is considering inviting Al Nassr to the 2024/2025 edition of the Champions League, SportsBible has reported.

According to the journalist, the reason for this is that Al Nassr is considered among the "three most famous clubs in the world" and they have "great popularity" among European supporters.

Indeed, Ronaldo is the best player in the history of the Champions League and would welcome Al Nassr's participation in the tournament.

The Portuguese international, who was the first player to win the Champions League five times, has also played more matches and scored more goals (140) than any other player in the competition.

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ronaldo's record in Europe's top competition.

Voted the top scorer in the Champions League seven times, Ronaldo has also scored 67 goals in the knockout stage of the tournament, netting in three finals and is the only player to score in 11 consecutive Champions League matches.

Next season, the group stage of the Champions League will be abolished and instead, 36 teams will be in one table of the main league.

The top eight of the final table will go directly to the round of 16, while those in ninth to 24th place will enter a play-off for another eight places in the round of 16.

The 25th to 36th positions have been eliminated from Europe.