A 23-year run ends
Cristiano Ronaldo has retired from international football. The 41-year-old announced it on social media this morning, closing a Portugal career that began in August 2003 and finished on 234 caps and a record 146 goals. His post carried the caption “Portugal will always be in me.”
In a long statement he said he was giving the number seven shirt back to the national team, because he never felt it belonged to him alone. He thanked team-mates, coaches, staff and family, and wrote that goals fade and trophies end up in museums, while the place a player holds in people’s hearts stays.
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How it got here
The decision lands after a messy few weeks. Ronaldo was left on the bench for Portugal’s 2-1 win over Norway in the last international window, then left the camp on the eve of the Denmark game on October 1. He said head coach Jorge Jesus had broken his word over playing time and later apologised for walking out. Jesus denied any such promise had been made. The federation answered with a fine and a 30-day ban.
Ronaldo had already said the World Cup would be his last with Portugal, who went out in the round of 16 to eventual champions Spain. He later added that he would not rush into anything. Sky Sports reports that he had written a retirement message earlier, only for federation president Pedro Proenca to talk him out of posting it on the flight home from North America.
What he leaves behind
Ronaldo won Euro 2016 and the Nations League in 2019 and 2025, and played at 12 major tournaments, six World Cups and six European Championships. His last appearance in a Portugal shirt was the 1-0 win over Wales in the opening game of the September window.
The club story carries on. He stays at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where the goals keep coming, and Portugal now have to build without the captain who arrived in the senior side more than two decades ago.
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