The Italian courts declared on Wednesday that Juventus would have to pay Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo €9.7 million in unpaid salary for the 2020–21 campaign.

Ronaldo filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration, which found that Juventus Turin “orders Juventus Turin to pay the sum of €9 774 166.66” plus interest and legal fees.

The amount represents the discrepancy between Ronaldo’s actual pay and his expected salary following tax and other deductions.

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Ronaldo, who played for Juventus for three seasons in Italy from 2018 to 21, then for Manchester United in 2021–22 and finally for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, was asking €19.5 million, but the arbitration panel cut that amount by 50%.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner made $136 million in 2023, including $46 million in salary, to rank as the highest-paid sportsman in the world, according to rankings compiled by the American business magazine Forbes.

Juventus, a publicly traded company, disclosed in October that it had lost €123.7 million during the fiscal year 2022–2023 that ended at the end of June.

The most successful football club in Italy, now third in Serie A, has not set aside any money in its books to cover this backlog of wages.