Spanish Bank Puts Cristiano Ronaldo Up As Collateral For ECB Loans

Photo: AP Images

Spanish bank Bankia is seeking loans from the European Central Bank — and putting Real Madrid football star and most-expensive-player-in-the-world Cristiano Ronaldo up as collateral.PressEurop has the (admittedly far-fetched) story, a translation from German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bankia helped financed Real Madrid’s purchase of the Portuguese striker and his teammate Kaka with a loan of 76.5 million euros ($111 million).

The end result? If the bank goes under and Real Madrid defaults on their loans, theoretically the ECB could end up owning Ronaldo. A strange state of affairs.

The Spanish banking crisis isn’t just hitting soccer — check out amazing satellite shots of the Spanish ‘ghost towns’ abandoned since the housing market collapsed >

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.