Serie A club Juventus must pay Cristiano Ronaldo $9.7 million euros, worth approximately $10.4 million, after losing a legal battle regarding wages deferred during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jordi Archs of Mundo Deportivo and James Cohen of the Daily Mail.

The club will have to pay that sum plus interest, according to Gazetta's Marco Guidi.

The dispute involved 19.8 million euros, worth more than $21 million, that Ronaldo agreed to defer during the pandemic, according to Archs.

The Italian police seized a document in which Juventus agreed to pay Ronaldo that amount.

Juventus argued the document was no longer valid, as Ronaldo pursued the matter only after he left the club in 2021, according to Raimondo de Magistris of TuttoSport.

An Italian arbitration tribunal ruled Ronaldo partially responsible and mandated Juventus to pay back just half of the salary promised, according to Guidi and Cohen.

Juventus will have to pay the money out of the club's current budget because the team did not set aside funds in case of losing, Archs noted.

The case involving in Ronaldo is the latest legal battle the club has had to face regarding the way they handled salaries and internal accounting during the pandemic.

Last year Juventus agreed to pay a fine worth more than $750,000 in 2023 as part of a plea bargain for lying to players about receiving deferred salaries after the pandemic.

Ronaldo scored 101 times in 134 appearances through three seasons with Juventus.

The Portuguese star, who became the first active athlete in a team sport to reach $1 billion in career earnings in 2020 according to Forbes, currently plays for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.