For years, football had a familiar fixture. Whenever Portugal played, there was Cristiano Ronaldo, usually wearing the number 7, leading the team out with the captain’s armband and looking like he had something to prove. It did not matter whether it was a World Cup, a European Championship or a Nations League match. You expected to see him there. You expected the goals, the celebrations, the big moments and, occasionally, the drama that seemed to follow him wherever he went.
That is what makes his latest announcement feel a little strange. At 41, Ronaldo has decided to retire from international football, bringing an extraordinary 23-year career with Portugal to an end. He will continue playing club football with Al-Nassr, so this is not a complete goodbye to the game. But there is something different about knowing that we have seen the last of him in a Portugal shirt. For fans who have followed his career for years, it feels less like a routine retirement announcement and more like the closing of a chapter they were never quite ready to finish.
Ronaldo made his international debut in 2003, long before the records, the Ballon d’Ors and the endless comparisons with Lionel Messi became part of everyday football conversation. He was a young, exciting winger who was still finding his feet on the international stage. Two decades later, he leaves as Portugal’s most celebrated footballer, with 234 appearances and 146 goals to his name, both men’s international records. That is quite a journey for a player who first walked into the national team as a teenager.
His career with Portugal was never short of memorable moments, although it certainly came with its fair share of heartbreak. There was the Euro 2004 final, when a teenage Ronaldo watched his country lose to Greece on home soil, unable to hold back his tears. There were years of coming close without quite getting there, of having a talented team but still being asked when Portugal would finally win something. And then came 2016.
The number 7, the trophies and the memories
The Euro 2016 final against France remains one of the defining moments of his international career. Ronaldo was forced off injured early in the match, leaving the pitch in tears, but he never really left the game. He spent the rest of the final on the touchline, encouraging his teammates and trying to push them towards a result. When Éder scored the winner in extra time, Portugal had its first major international trophy. It was a moment that meant as much to the country as it did to the player who had spent years carrying its hopes.
There was more to come. Ronaldo led Portugal to the inaugural Nations League title in 2019, scoring a hat-trick against Switzerland in the semi-final, and helped them win it again in 2025. He continued producing moments that seemed almost impossible to manufacture, from his hat-trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup to becoming the first player to score at six different editions of the tournament. Even as the years passed, he kept finding ways to add another record, another milestone or another reason for people to tune in.
Of course, the later years were not always as smooth. As Ronaldo got older, questions about his place in the starting line-up became harder to avoid. Portugal had a new generation of players coming through, and the conversation gradually shifted from how much the team depended on him to whether it was time for the team to move forward without him. His recent disagreement with coach Jorge Jesus, which saw him leave the national team camp and later receive a suspension and fine, added an uncomfortable note to the end of his international career. His last appearance for Portugal came in September, in a 1-0 win over Wales. It was hardly the grand farewell one might have imagined for a player who had given the country so much.
Still, it is difficult to reduce 23 years of football to the final few months. Ronaldo helped change what Portugal expected of itself. He was part of the generation that finally brought home major silverware, became the face of the national team across the world and gave younger Portuguese players someone to look up to. For supporters, he was there through different tournaments, different squads and different stages of life. Some will remember watching him as children with their families; others will remember staying up for World Cup matches, celebrating his goals or arguing with friends about whether he was better than Messi. Those memories are not going anywhere just because he has decided to step away.
And while we will still see him playing for Al-Nassr, club football cannot quite replace those international nights. There is a particular feeling that comes with watching a player represent his country, especially at a major tournament. The shirt carries a different weight, the atmosphere is different, and every goal feels like it belongs to an entire nation. Ronaldo’s next appearance on a club pitch might bring another goal or another record, but there will be no more waiting to see him walk out for Portugal at a World Cup. That is the part that will take some getting used to.
It is also difficult not to think about the timing of it all. Messi’s international chapter has already had its own farewell, and now Ronaldo is following him out of that particular spotlight. For more than a decade, the two seemed to exist in parallel, constantly pushing each other, breaking records and giving football fans an argument that never really had to end. They were not just two of the greatest players of their generation; they were the rivalry that defined an entire era of football. Even people who supported one over the other will probably admit that watching both at their peak was something special.
Football will keep going, and there will be new stars, new rivalries and new players for the next generation to grow up watching. But the thought of another World Cup without either Messi or Ronaldo representing their countries is still a little difficult to process. We can revisit the highlights, watch the old goals and argue over the records, but we cannot quite recreate the feeling of waiting for them to take the field.
Messi, and now Ronaldo. Two goodbyes, two remarkable careers and an era that will be very hard to replicate. It is bittersweet knowing that they are not completely gone from football, but that the part of their careers we grew up watching has come to an end. And perhaps that is what makes this announcement hit differently: somewhere between all those goals, tournaments and football debates, they became part of our childhood, too.
And honestly, I’ve never even been a Ronaldo fan (don’t come at me), but even I find this a little sad. Maybe it’s because he’s been around for so long that you almost forget there would eventually be a time when he wouldn’t be playing for Portugal anymore. You don’t have to support someone to recognise how much they’ve been part of the game, or how strange it feels to see an era you’ve watched unfold finally come to an end.
