Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday said next year’s FIFA World Cup would be his last as he winds down one of the all-time great careers.
The 40-year-old forward, with more than 950 club and international goals, also said he would retire from soccer in “one or two years.”
“Definitely, yes,” he told a Saudi forum by video link, when asked if it would be his final World Cup next year.
Photo: EPA
“I’m gonna be 41 years old, and I think it will be the moment,” he said.
Ronaldo, who began a lucrative stint at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr in 2023, also elaborated on comments last week when he said he would retire “soon.”
“Let’s be honest, when I mean soon, it’s probably one or two years I’ll still be at the game,” he said.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is hoping to play at his sixth World Cup next year. He came closest to lifting the trophy on debut in 2006, when Portugal lost to France in the semi-finals.
Portugal have yet to qualify for next year’s tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico, but can secure their spot if they beat Ireland tonight.
Last month, Ronaldo became the top goalscorer in World Cup qualifying history when he netted twice against Hungary to reach 41 goals, overtaking retired Guatemalan international Carlos Ruiz’s 39.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus forward is also the all-time leading international goalscorer with 143 strikes.
During an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored last week, Ronaldo opened up further about the realities of his looming retirement.
“It will be difficult? Yes. Probably will cry, yes. I’m an open person. It will be very, very difficult, yes,” he said.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr after leaving Manchester United for a second time in late 2022, a move that heralded an influx of late-career stars to the oil-rich kingdom.
Ronaldo signed for 200 million euros (US$231.5 million) a year, according to a source close to Al-Nassr at the time, and inked a two-year contract extension in June.
Last month, he was named by Bloomberg as the sport’s first billionaire, and topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid soccer players for the sixth time in a decade.
With on-and off-field earnings of an estimated US$280 million, Ronaldo is to earn more than double that of second-placed rival Lionel Messi during the upcoming season, Forbes said.
Saudi Arabia, which is spending big on sports and entertainment as part of its economic diversification plan, was named in December last year as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday pulled off a stellar comeback to get the better of Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and book her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei won in the doubles at the women’s year-ending event. Making her tournament debut this week, the fourth-seeded Anisimova secured the runner-up spot in the Serena Williams Group behind Elena Rybakina. Rybakina completed round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 record, thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 success against Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day. Anisimova improved her three-set record this season to an impressive
RSS