Cristiano Ronaldo has made it in to the Guinness World Records and it’s got nothing to do with football

Former Manchester United footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has made it in the Guinness World Records - and it's got absolutely nothing to do with his ability to kick a ball.

Ronaldo, who has just started his third season with Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr, joined the club back in 2023 on a €200 million (£173 million) per year deal following on from a second spell at MUFC.

It saw him say goodbye to European football after one of the greatest careers any footballer has ever enjoyed on the continent.

Now aged 39, he is still going strong in Saudi Arabia playing alongside the likes of former Liverpool and Man City men, Sadio Mane and Aymeric Laporte.

And with 51 goals in 49 games, he's clearly keeping up the goalscoring pace that he set during his halcyon days at Real Madrid.

And despite forging a career full of headlines from his abilities on the pitch, Ronaldo has found himself in the Guinness World Records of all places.

His football skills have nothing to do with landing himself in the record books on this occasion, however.

Instead, it's all down to YouTube.

Ronaldo on his YouTube channel (YouTube / @cristiano)

Unless you've been living under a rock, the Portuguese international has launched a YouTube channel called 'UR - Cristiano'.

And while there is football related content on there, a mix of lifestyle videos have also been published as Cristiano sits down with his partner, Georgina Rodríguez.

Asking people to 'SIUUUbscribe' (yes, genuinely), the channel has gone down as you'd expect with his loyal fanbase with millions subscribing to the platform since being launched on 21 August.

In the 10 days since it went live, he has already amassed a staggering 53 million subscribers - for context, that is more than double the 24 million subs that British YouTuber KSI has to his name on his main channel.

But on this occasion, it is not the sheer number of subscribers that has launched Ronaldo in to the record books.

Back in 2016 when Ronaldo was playing for Real Madrid (Pressefoto Ulmer\ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Rather, it's all about something his fans have all to often associated with him during his football career - pace.

And instead of pace on the pitch, it's about the pace and rapid number of subscribers joining his channel.

Entering the Guinness World Records (GWR), Ronaldo has been recognised for his YouTube channel having the most subscribers gained in a 24 hour window.

On its website, GWR said: "Cristiano Ronaldo’s domination of social media has continued after being awarded the Guinness World Records title for the most YouTube subscribers gained in 24 hours.

"The official number from YouTube of 19,729,827 subscribers was revealed exclusively to Guinness World Records earlier this week."

Pedo Pina, vice president of YouTube Europe, said: "YouTube's dream team-up with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo has been a labour of love and dedication. And watching his channel explode is pure gold.

"This is just the kick-off to an epic adventure, and we're strapped in for the ride. Massive congrats to Cristiano and his squad. And let's keep those SIUUUUUUUBSCRIPTIONS rolling in."