A South Korean court ordered a local promoter to compensate fans for Cristiano Ronaldo’s no-show at a friendly match in Seoul last year.
Match promoter, The Festa, had run advertisements heavily featuring the Juventus star.
However, the Portuguese striker stayed on bench throughout a 3-3 draw with a K-League all-stars at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in July, despite rounds of chants from a sell-out crowd of 65,000.
Tickets — priced from 30,000 won ($25) to 400,000 won — sold out in less than three minutes, with many eager to see the 34-year-old superstar in action.
Two die-hard fans of the football star sued the promoter for false advertising, and the Incheon District Court ruled the promoter should pay them 371,000 won each, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
“If he had played just for at least 10 minutes, everyone would have walked home happy,” one poster wrote on the country’s largest portal site, Naver.
So far no order has been made against Ronaldo or his club.
