Key Points
- Ronaldo, 41, said the 2026 World Cup, his sixth, will be his last.
- Portugal face Spain in the round of 16 on July 6 in Dallas.
- "Yes, it's my last one. Let's go and enjoy it," he told reporters.
- He is the first player to score at six different World Cups.
Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed that the 2026 World Cup will be the last of his career. The 41-year-old, playing in his sixth World Cup, said so on the eve of Portugal's round-of-16 tie with Spain: "This will be my last World Cup, but let's hope tomorrow isn't my last game." Asked directly whether it was his final one, he added, "Yes, it's my last one. Let's go and enjoy it."
Portugal meet Spain on July 6 in Dallas in one of the last-16's heavyweight ties — a rematch of the group-stage classic at the 2018 World Cup, when Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw, and now a generational contrast with 18-year-old Lamine Yamal leading the Spanish attack. Ronaldo arrives at the knockout stage having already become the first player to score at six different World Cups, the milestone Nike marked with an all-gold Mercurial.
Ronaldo holds the records that outlast any single tournament — the all-time leading scorer in men's international football, and now the only man to score at six World Cups — but the one prize that has eluded him is the one the players he is measured against all have: the World Cup itself. At 41, this is the final window. "I'm not missing anything in life," he said, and the line lands as both contentment and concession: a career with nearly everything except the trophy that would have settled the Messi debate, walking toward its last act against Portugal's oldest rival.
Source: ESPN, CBS Sports, and Fox Sports.
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