Legendary football icon Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a partnership with human performance company WHOOP to be the brand’s official global ambassador and an investor in the company.
The deal represents one of Ronaldo’s most significant investments to date and adds the player to the company’s growing roster of global ambassador investors, including Patrick Mahomes, Michael Phelps, Eli Manning, and Rory McIlroy.
WHOOP – a nearly $4 billion company – offers a wearable health and fitness coach to help people achieve their goals by providing actionable feedback, and recommendations across recovery, sleep, training, and health.
An obvious partnership
The partnership between WHOOP and Ronaldo is an obvious one, according to the CEO and Founder of WHOOP Will Ahmed.
In an interview with Al Arabiya English, Ahmed said: “Cristiano Ronaldo has really been the pinnacle of human performance for the last 20 years and WHOOP is on the mission to unlock that performance. So, from my standpoint it’s the perfect partnership.”
“We ultimately look for athletes who are authentic and on brand. Cristiano had been wearing WHOOP for the last two years on his own and he was interested in partnering with WHOOP so there is an authenticity to his enjoyment of the product,” he added.
As for the athlete, WHOOP has been “a game-changer.”
In a statement to Al Arabiya English, the Portuguese footballer said: “Since joining Al Nassr, I’ve really connected with the region’s vibrant sports culture. Focusing on everything from my training to my sleep has shown me the value of having precise health data. WHOOP has been key in providing that insight.”
Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo wearing WHOOP. (Supplied)
As one of the greatest players in the history of football, Ronaldo’s success has been built on an obsession to perform at the highest levels.
First to training, last to leave – former teammates often point to his dedication to self-improvement as the driving force behind his success.
The player was the highest scorer in the World in 2023, is currently the top scorer in the Saudi Pro League, and is preparing for the Euros this summer.
Global growth
Ronaldo and WHOOP will partner on product development and leverage data-driven insights to help deliver the best health and fitness coaching for athletes and humanity broadly.
The partnership signifies the company’s global growth trajectory and commitment to revolutionizing the world of human performance, WHOOP’s CEO told Al Arabiya English.
“This is the time in which WHOOP is growing more globally than ever before. Just in the last year especially we’ve grown in the GCC region. So, we have a big focus in the Gulf, and obviously now Ronaldo is here in Riyadh, we think he will help supercharge our growth there,” Ahmed said.
WHOOP had in April announced it would be expanding its reach to several key markets and regions, where there’s been rising consumer demand for the brand – including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
“As WHOOP expands in the Middle East, I’m excited about its potential to revolutionize both sports training and daily health routines. It’s not just for athletes; WHOOP is for anyone looking to boost their health and performance. It’s been a game-changer for me, and I’m sure it’ll make a real difference for others too,” Ronaldo told Al Arabiya English.
AI technology
The watch’s most significant feature, WHOOP Coach, has made it especially attractive to users worldwide.
WHOOP Coach uses OpenAI’s technology to generate highly personalized, conversational responses to your health and fitness queries in seconds.
User-specific recommendations are what sets it apart from other virtual coaching platforms on the market, the WHOOP founder said in the interview.
WHOOP’s user-specific recommendations set it apart from other virtual coaching platforms on the market, the founder said in the interview.
“You can also ask WHOOP Coach all sorts of different questions, like ‘what workout can I do?’; ‘Why do I feel run down?’; ‘How can I sleep better?’; ‘How does my recovery compare to people like me?’ How does my exercise compare like me?’
These are all questions you can seamlessly ask WHOOP and it will base the answers on you and your personal data.”
Source: Al Arabiya
