Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first billionaire footballer

Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved something no footballer has ever done before - he is the world's first active player to become a billionaire.

A billionaire is someone whose money and things they own add up to more than one billion (in this case dollars). One billion looks like this: 1,000,000,000. That's a thousand million and a LOT of zeros!

Ronaldo's wealth means he appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a list made by financial experts that keeps track of the richest people in the world. They calculate wealth by looking at salaries, investments, businesses, and property, and they update the list often as fortunes change.

Ronaldo is currently the highest-paid sports star on the planet, and his fortune grew much bigger when he signed a record-breaking contract with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr this year.

That deal alone is reported to be worth over 400 million dollars, and he also owns a share of the club.

He also earns huge amounts from sponsorships with brands like Nike.

Ronaldo's estimated net worth - the total value of everything he owns (like houses, cars, businesses and bank savings) - is around 1.4 billion dollars.

To imagine that kind of money: Ronaldo could buy over a million new iPhones or about seven Wembley Stadiums.