Cristiano Ronaldo accused of ‘ambush marketing’ after wearing £230 smart wristband

Cristiano Ronaldo’s heart-rate data during Portugal’s penalty shootout win over Slovenia has been made public by the maker of a wearable device with whom he has partnered.

Ronaldo’s key biometrics from the game were monitored by WHOOP, courtesy of a £229-per-year subscription smart wristband that is also being worn in Germany by Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk.

The company, for which Ronaldo became a global ambassador and investor last month, published data on its X account which it said showed the 39-year-old had “entered a flow state and dropped his heart rate” moments before scoring the first of Portugal’s penalties in the shootout.

The data indicated that heart rate peaked at the end of extra-time at more than 180 beats per minute, dropped below 100bpm as he prepared to take his spot-kick, and surged again to 180bpm when Bernardo Silva sealed victory in the shootout.

The published data did not include Ronaldo’s heart rate when Jan Oblak saved an earlier penalty from him just before half-time in extra-time, which saw him erupt into floods of tears, or during his four wasted free-kicks in the game.

Ronaldo and WHOOP, which revealed details of Van Dijk’s sleep metrics earlier in the tournament, were accused on Wednesday of “ambush marketing” over the publication of data relating to Euros matches.

The claim was made on X by Ricardo Fort, the former head of global sponsorships at Visa and Coca-Cola.

However, wearable devices are allowable in football, while WHOOP’s published data makes no mention of the Euros itself, something that would be an infringement of Uefa’s intellectual property unless the firm had a deal allowing it to use tournament branding.

Companies without such deals with event organisers frequently deploy similar tactics to boost awareness of their products during the likes of a European Championship, World Cup or Olympics.