Cristiano Ronaldo has said the 2026 tournament will be the final World Cup of his career, speaking a day before Portugal face Spain in the round of 16. The 41-year-old, one of the most decorated players in the game's history, made the announcement while stressing that his priority was Portugal's progress, not his own send-off.
"My last World Cup"
"This will be my last World Cup, but let's hope tomorrow isn't my last game," Ronaldo told reporters at a pre-match news conference, according to ESPN. Asked about the trophy that has eluded him across a glittering career, he was philosophical. "I'm not going to be more, or less, Cristiano because I win the World Cup," he said, playing down the idea that the title would define his legacy.
A record-setting career
The World Cup is the one major prize Ronaldo has never won, but his longevity at the tournament is itself a record: this is his sixth World Cup, more than any other man has played. Alongside a vast collection of club honors and international goals, that endurance has kept him at the top of the sport well into his forties, an age at which almost all of his contemporaries have retired.
His remarks acknowledged that the clock is running down on his time on the biggest stage, even as he insisted he still has something to contribute.
Portugal meet Spain
Portugal reached the last 16 and now face Spain, a heavyweight last-16 tie between two neighbors and long-time rivals. For Ronaldo, it is another chance to extend a final World Cup campaign against one of the tournament's strongest teams, and to postpone the goodbye he has now put on the record. Win, and Portugal move into the quarterfinals with their captain's farewell tour continuing; lose, and one of football's great careers will have taken its final bow at a World Cup.
