Corsican club Bastia official: Ronaldo wanted to join in 2003, but was rejected over €80k fee

As France prepares to face Portugal in a UEFA Euro quarter-final showdown in Hamburg, a repeat of the 2016 final, memories resurface of a missed opportunity for Bastia. Eight years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team triumphed over the hosts at the Stade de France to lift the European Championship trophy, leaving Bastia, who finished 13th in last season’s Ligue 2, regretting their decision to reject the teenage sensation due to an €80,000 fee.

According to AS, in 2003, Bastia, then 12th in Ligue 1, engaged in talks with Sporting Lisbon (now Sporting CP) and learned that the 16-year-old Ronaldo was available. Joe Bonavita, a Bastia sports official at the time, recounts in his recently published book, “Bastia, Légende“: “Sporting informed us that this boy of 16 had great potential, he wanted to play in Ligue 1, and his club was asking for €80,000. I discussed it with the then coach Gérard Gili, but we turned down the offer.”

What could have been if Ronaldo had joined Bastia? Instead, just months after Bastia’s rejection, the emerging star signed for Manchester United for €19 million, embarking on a stellar career. This 21-year-old anecdote of “Bastia’s missed signing” remains a footnote in the legendary player’s career, a curious sidebar.

Bastia currently finds itself struggling, having finished in the lower half of the Ligue 2 table last season. Founded in 1905 and boasting a 119-year history, the club is a French institution that reached the UEFA Cup final in 1978, finishing as runners-up. They won the French Cup in 1981 and were finalists in 2002, also claiming the Coupe de la Ligue runner-up spot in 2015. The club’s descent from Ligue 1 in 2017 led to a series of challenges, including a brief spell in the third tier of French football. Now back in Ligue 2, although no longer in its heyday, Bastia maintains a certain recognition within French and European football circles.