Cristiano Ronaldo has been a constant, dominant presence in football for more than two decades, winning titles, breaking records and scoring goals at a ludicrous rate for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr and Portugal. Even as he celebrates his 40th birthday on Feb. 5, the goals continue to flow for club and country.
Also established as a global icon and brand, Ronaldo is approaching a four-figure milestone few would have thought possible in the modern men’s game. But as his near unparallelled total for social media followers (nearly 1 billion combined across platforms) proves, Ronaldo knows no numerical barriers.
To merely list Ronaldo’s achievements — Golden Boots, five Champions League triumphs, international trophies, nearly 1,000 goals — would be reductive. He is a player who changed his game to reach the top, and when he got there, he changed what’s possible in the sport, how people follow it and what stardom can be.
Here is the story of Ronaldo told through four broad phases of his career: the young winger who took the Premier League by storm, the star striker who conquered Europe, the galáctico era at Real Madrid during his peak years, and the record hunter focusing his final years on adding to an extraordinary legacy.
We don’t yet know how the story ends, but we know he will keep on breaking records and new ground right until the end.
The Boy from Madeira
Ronaldo joined his first team — local club CF Andorinha, in Funchal, Madeira — at age 7, according to Portugal’s national news agency, LUSA. His father, José Dinis Aveiro, was a kit man there. LUSA reported that young Ronaldo won his first individual award at a friendly tournament in August 1993 and played his first official game in December of that year. From there he joined CD Nacional, also in Funchal, in May 1995 for a fee of 20 footballs and a set of kits.
Ronaldo breaks his first record
Aged 12, Ronaldo flew to Lisbon for a trial with Portuguese giants Sporting CP. “It was a miracle that a treasure like that hadn’t been discovered,” former Sporting scout Aurelio Pereira told El Mundo in 2016. Sporting CP did a deal with Nacional that included forgiving a previous €20,000 debt. It was the highest sum the club had paid for a player of that age.
Professional debut
Age 17
Competition UCL
Minutes 32
Ronaldo’s progress at Sporting was swift. In a single season, he went from playing for the under-17s to the first team. By August 2002, he was making his competitive debut in a Champions League qualifier against Inter Milan, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 0-0 draw.
The goal that started it all
Ronaldo scored his first senior goal for Sporting in a 3-0 win over Moreirense. Footage shows a fresh-faced Ronaldo receiving the ball just inside the opposition half, evading several desperate challenges — one with his trademark stepover — before finishing confidently. Not content with scoring once, Ronaldo added a second, a sign of what was to come.
Man United make their move
United had agreed a deal for Ronaldo — transfer fee: £12.24 million — before the team turned up in Lisbon for a preseason friendly in August 2003. Having fought off competition from some of Europe’s biggest clubs, United decision-makers — including manager Sir Alex Ferguson — decided Ronaldo should stay at Sporting CP for another year before moving to Old Trafford the following summer. However, the plan changed over the 90-minute game as an 18-year-old Ronaldo destroyed United’s defence in a 3-1 win for the Portuguese side.
“We arrived from America, where we had our preseason tour,” Quinton Fortune, who started the game against Sporting, told ESPN. “We landed the day before the game. I didn’t know much about Ronaldo, but during the game you start to pick up on what’s going on: ‘Who’s this guy?’ … He was outstanding.”
Playing out wide, Ronaldo was a menace for his opponent, United right-back John O’Shea.
“I’m playing left-back, John O’Shea is playing right-back, and I’m praying: ‘Don’t come on my side,'” Fortune said. “He had an amazing game. Whatever the talks were before, he basically sealed it in that game. He was incredible. We sat in the dressing room afterwards just looking at each other. I think the boss came in and then went straight out to get the deal done. There was no time to wait after that.”
Ronaldo was so good that United players Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs, who were watching from the stands, petitioned chief executive Peter Kenyon to ensure Ronaldo’s arrival was brought forward. While the team flew home to Manchester, Kenyon stayed in Lisbon to renegotiate the deal.
“Keane had a better view than us because he didn’t play that game,” Fortune said. “He could see from the outside what was happening. He gave O’Shea a hard time — and he’s a brilliant defender. He showed it in that game, and when he got to [United’s training ground] Carrington, he was even better.”
It was a well-timed move for United. Homegrown icon David Beckham had left for Real Madrid earlier in the summer, and efforts to tempt Ronaldinho from Paris Saint-Germain had been thwarted by Barcelona. Ronaldo arrived as a raw teenager, but he was immediately handed the club’s iconic No. 7 shirt — worn by legends George Best, Eric Cantona and Beckham — by Ferguson.
An 18-year-old sub for club and country
Ronaldo was a relative unknown when he arrived at United, but it didn’t take long for his dribbling and trickery to catch the eye. His memorable introduction to United fans on Aug. 16, 2003, came as a 61st-minute substitute for Nicky Butt against Bolton, helping United score three goals in 30 minutes in a 4-0 victory.
Shaka Hislop in net for Ronaldo’s first United goal
At first, United used Ronaldo sparingly in first-team matches, with his first goal not coming until November. Joining the action in the second half vs. Portsmouth, he took a late free kick on United’s left.
“It was his first United goal, and at the time, no one could know what he would go on to become,” said Shaka Hislop, in goal for Portsmouth that day. “I remember it was a free kick wide to our right. I kind of played it thinking one of [United’s attackers] would get the touch, neither of them did, and it snuck in at the far post. It was well hit, but I was playing for the touch that never came. That was him, up and running.”
Trophy No. 1
Ronaldo was in and out of the United team during his first season as Ferguson opted to ease the teenager in gently. However, when it came time to pick a team for the FA Cup final against Millwall, Ferguson went with the youth of Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher over the experience of Nicky Butt and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It paid off, with Ronaldo scoring the first goal at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium as United won 3-0.
Portugal’s star is born
Another landmark came in Euro 2004’s opening game, when hosts Portugal played eventual winners Greece. Georgios Karagounis scored early as the underdogs took a 1-0 lead, prompting a furious Portugal coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, to make a double substitution, introducing Ronaldo. It didn’t have the desired effect — Greece soon scored again — but the one positive for Portugal was a 93rd-minute consolation goal for Ronaldo, his first for his country.
Ronaldo made six appearances, playing as a sub in wins over Russia and Spain, even becoming a starter in their run to the final. He scored in their semifinal vs. the Netherlands before tasting defeat again vs. Greece, ending the game in tears.
First World Cup
Two years after his Euro disappointment, Ronaldo was back at a major tournament — the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Portugal progressed comfortably from Group D, beating Angola, Iran and Mexico.
All Ronaldo’s World Cup goals
That 2006 penalty off Ronaldo’s famed right foot would be a harbinger of things to come, and by Qatar 2022, Ronaldo had become the only man to score in five straight World Cups. This chart shows how and where he netted all eight of those record-setting goals.
Premier League mastery
On May 6, 2007, Ronaldo capped a brilliant Premier League campaign with a 33rd-minute penalty past Andreas Isaksson into the bottom-right corner of the Manchester derby. He totaled 17 goals that season, third most in the league.
Suspension creates opportunity
His next Premier League campaign got off to a rocky start when he got into an altercation with Portsmouth’s Richard Hughes. Ronaldo was shown a straight red card and banned three games for head-butting Hughes, who retired in 2014 and is now sporting director at Liverpool.
Goal-scoring phenom emerges
Career hat tricks 66
Rank among actives 1
Ronaldo returned to the pitch a different player after training with longtime United development coach Rene Meulensteen during his suspension — and taking advantage of the international break that fell in the middle of it. The 22-year-old notched 31 goals in 36 league matches, including his first career hat trick.
Knuckleball technique
A tale of two free kick eras
No. 7 quickly became the go-to for free kicks in Premier League competition. Over his career, Ronaldo has converted some of the most unbelievable set pieces ever seen, but in recent years, he has become known more for miscues than makes.
The first meeting of rivals
Who could have known that when Ronaldo and United took on Barcelona and its 20-year-old star, Lionel Messi, on April 23, 2008, we weren’t just watching a UEFA Champions League semifinal, but the beginnings of one of the greatest sporting rivalries of all time.
Ronaldo
Messi
Champions League winner
Ronaldo’s first Champions League appearance was a roller coaster. He put United 1-0 up against Chelsea in Moscow, converting Wes Brown’s cross with a leaping back-post header. The game went to a penalty shootout, where his spot kick was saved by Petr Cech. He was bailed out by his teammates, however, as United won and Ronaldo lifted the trophy for the first time.
First Ballon d’Or
After a stellar 2007-08 season, scoring 42 goals in 49 games for United including 31 in the Premier League, Ronaldo was crowned as the world’s best player for the first time. Having finished second behind Brazil and AC Milan star Kaká a year earlier, the United star topped the rankings ahead of Messi, Fernando Torres, Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernandez.
Another league victory
Ronaldo didn’t reach the eye-watering numbers from his 2007-08 season, but his 18 Premier League goals in 2008-09 were enough to lead United to their third consecutive title.
“Uno, dos, tres … HALA Madrid”
During his first spell at Man United, Ronaldo turned from flashy winger to formidable goal scorer. Along the way, his physique changed, too, from a scrawny teenager to a superhuman athlete. Mick Clegg, a United conditioning coach at the time, is credited with helping make Ronaldo more physically imposing, which made him better suited to handle the rough and tumble of the Premier League. It was also the perfect preparation for what he would face in LaLiga.
“The boys were ruthless,” former United teammate Quinton Fortune told ESPN. “The environment was competitive. In training, the boys would kick him; he would get pushed off the ball and we would tease him. We’d tell him, ‘Get to the gym, get your weights done,’ and you could see inside it was eating him. He went away and came back with a superman body.”
Shaka Hislop saw Ronaldo’s transformation in games against Man United for Portsmouth and West Ham. “I remember him arriving, very flashy, very showboaty to start with,” Hislop said. “You saw him mature. He became more difficult to handle physically. You couldn’t just stick an arm out and knock him off balance. You just saw him become this bigger and bigger threat.”
Fortune played with Ronaldo at Old Trafford between 2003 and 2006 and says the transformation, both on and off the pitch, was driven by a desire even then to become the best player in the world.
“It was all about the way he trained,” said Fortune. “We would be getting in our cars to drive home and you’d see this kid with a bag of balls going to do some extra training. For dedication, no one can touch Ronaldo.
“What makes him so special is that the talent was obvious to see, but what set him apart from everyone else was his mentality. I have never seen anything like it. The self-belief and application was second to none.”
On July 6, 2009, Ronaldo took that well-honed physique and mindset to LaLiga, where was unveiled to the Real Madrid faithful in the biggest, most anticipated player presentation of the era. Fans queued outside the Bernabéu from midday — in the sweltering Madrid heat — to be sure of getting in hours before a 9 p.m. start. In the end, the attendance was estimated at 85,000, with thousands turned away.
Even Ronaldo was impressed — “Is there a game today?” he asked (for the record, there wasn’t) — and footage of the event shows him laughing inside his car on arrival. Ronaldo was welcomed by two icons of the game: Alfredo Di Stéfano and Portugal great Eusébio.
“It was a beautiful feeling,” he told journalists later. “I loved it. I didn’t expect the stadium to be full.”
A club employee told ESPN they’d never seen the Bernabéu media room so packed and so chaotic, as Ronaldo spent 45 minutes answering questions. Kylian Mbappé’s presentation last summer didn’t come close, the source said.
Unveiled at the Bernabéu
“Everyone wanted him there. You knew the fans were going to love him,” Reshmin Chowdhury — then a reporter at Real Madrid TV, who did an interview with Ronaldo that day — told ESPN. “It ended up being bigger than I ever thought possible. We knew who we were getting, but I don’t think anyone could have imagined how big it was. … He was very professional, but once the interview was over, he relaxed. … He was happy and excited; you could see it.”
Awards Ronaldo brought to Spain
By the time he left England for Spain after six seasons with Man United, Ronaldo had secured the kind of trophy haul that most players would be lucky to accumulate over their entire careers.
Brilliant in Real debut
LaLiga goals 26
UCL goals 7
It didn’t take long for Ronaldo to make a difference at his new club. Just 35 minutes into Real’s opening match vs. Deportivo La Coruña, Raul drew a penalty, which Ronaldo banked in off the left post to give Real the 2-1 lead. He ended the season with 33 goals in 35 club games, but no trophy.
Goals by jersey number
No. 7 858
No. 9 33
Nos. 17 and 28 25
In his first season with Madrid, Ronaldo wore No. 9 because longtime club captain Raul had No. 7. When Raul left at the end of 2010, Ronaldo took back the shirt in which he has scored the majority of his goals. He netted five goals as Sporting’s No. 28 to begin his career, and 20 as No. 17 for Portugal from 2004 to 2008.
Four Clásicos in 18 days
The 2010-11 campaign was the peak of a ferocious battle between Jose Mourinho’s Madrid and Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, culminating with four intense Clásicos in just 18 days between April 16 and May 3.
Calma Camp Nou
The Clásico rivalry has given us countless iconic moments, but few are as cherished by Madridistas as Ronaldo’s legendary calma (or “calm down”) celebration at Camp Nou. Just minutes after Alexis Sánchez had levelled for the hosts, Ronaldo responded to put Madrid 2-1 up, celebrating by telling the crowd that they had perhaps gotten a bit overexcited. The win sent Madrid seven points clear, with four games left.
Record LaLiga Season
Madrid went on to lift the league title with a record-breaking season: Los Blancos won the league with 100 points, the most goals scored ever (121), the best goal difference ever (+89) and the most wins ever (32 in 38 games). Ronaldo’s contribution: 46 goals in LaLiga, and 60 in all competitions.
Here come the Siuuu
Ronaldo’s trademark goal celebration has become a phenomenon unto itself. The forward debuted it at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium after scoring in a preseason match vs. Chelsea, running toward the corner flag and leaping into the air, before landing with his feet planted in a wide stance and his arms thrust down by his sides. Later, he incorporated a midair spin so he would land with the name on the back of his jersey facing the crowd, who would all join him in crying “Siuuu!”
LaLiga Goal of the season
Ask fans what their favorite Ronaldo goal is, and you’ll get plenty of contenders. One is his last LaLiga goal of 2013-14, which was voted best of the season in Spain. Madrid were 2-1 down to Valencia at the Bernabéu, with time running out, when Ronaldo met Angel Di Maria’s cross with a perfectly executed, midair back-heel flick. It was more martial arts kick than shot, a blend of physical and technical prowess that only Ronaldo could manage.
First UCL with Madrid
Real Madrid had waited 12 anxious years for La Décima, their 10th European Cup. Madrid were seconds away from experiencing the worst night in the club’s history, trailing 0-1 to rivals Atlético Madrid in Lisbon, until the 93rd minute, when Sergio Ramos’ famous header levelled the game and forced extra time. Atlético tired, and their spirit was broken. Extra-time goals from Gareth Bale and Marcelo ended the contest, before Ronaldo applied the final blow with a penalty in the 120th minute. Naturally, he whipped off his shirt in celebration.
Ad Man Cristiano
Like most elite athletes, Cristiano Ronaldo is no stranger to endorsements. He has some expectedly lucrative commercial partnerships — CR7 has a lifetime Nike contract reportedly worth as much as $1 billion, along with Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan, and has toured China with the brand multiple times — but it is his willingness to lend his name and likeness to all sorts of weird and wonderful products around the world for which he is most known.
Since his commercial empire began to take shape, Ronaldo has merrily endorsed everything from energy drinks and airlines to cosmetics, cars, luxury watches, fast food and even the Egyptian steel industry. He has also launched his own signature lines of underwear and fragrances.
However, the more esoteric reaches of his portfolio go further than your average worldwide superstar. There have been several online ventures, including a freemium mobile game, “Kick’n’Run”, in which players quite literally kick a ball and run around a fictional cityscape. This paired nicely with his CR7 selfie app, which allowed users to clunkily add an image of the footballing megastar into their own personal photos should they feel the need.
In Asia, Ronaldo has appeared on television to promote a range of fitness and well-being equipment (including a bizarre ”facial fitness” device) and — in one of his hammiest engagements to date — demonstrated his acting and dancing chops in an ad for a Singaporean marketplace app.
A trawl through Ronaldo’s Instagram reveals the true breadth of his marketing prowess, with promoted brands and hashtags aplenty as he puts his colossal online reach (nearly 650 million followers) to good use. Extolling the virtues of hotel chains, telecommunication companies, suits, jeans, shampoo and even his own range of unnecessarily large towels — complete with obligatory CR7-branded monogram — reportedly earned him $3.23 million per post in 2024.
500 and more
Against Malmo on Sept. 30, 2015, Ronaldo reached a big milestone, scoring his 500th career goal in just 753 matches. Only Messi has been faster. Less than three weeks later, the Portuguese would take down another record, becoming the leading scorer in Real Madrid history. However, it was disputed: His club believed Ronaldo had actually broken the record earlier, because they awarded a free kick goal from 2010 that was credited to Pepe to their talismanic forward.
A Scene to remember at Euro 2016
The Euro 2016 final was bittersweet for Ronaldo. It was only Portugal’s second final and an opportunity to make up for their loss at Euro 2004.
Portugal break through
There were more tears at the final whistle, but this time, of joy. Eder’s 109th-minute goal was enough to clinch a 1-0 win over France, marking the greatest moment in the history of the Portugal national team. In many ways it was Ronaldo’s victory, even if he hadn’t been able to play a full part on the pitch.
Statues and busts
Ronaldo’s global acclaim has inspired an impressive array of artistic tributes, and his likeness has been captured for posterity on several occasions — some more controversially than others.
Wins fifth Ballon d’Or
Ronaldo had won the Ballon d’Or four times. But as ever, he wouldn’t be happy until he had matched — or ideally, bettered — Messi’s haul of five (now eight). Real Madrid’s superb 2016-17 season, winning the Champions League and LaLiga with arguably the best side of the Zinedine Zidane era, helped Ronaldo finish with 946 points in the voting, well clear of Messi on 670.
Incredible bicycle-kick goal
Another career-best-goal contender came in Madrid’s 3-0 Champions League quarterfinal win at Juventus.
Wins another title … but still isn’t happy
Ronaldo’s fourth Champions League trophy with Real Madrid — and his fifth overall — should have been cause for celebration. Instead, Ronaldo stunned the world by announcing, still on the pitch just seconds after the final whistle was blown in Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool in Kyiv, that his future was in doubt.
Awards Ronaldo brought to Italy
The trophy wall needed a few more shelves to accommodate all the hardware Ronaldo had racked up to this point, but there were still a few major domestic awards missing.
The move to Juventus
Signing fee €112M
After those heavy post-Champions League final hints, Ronaldo’s departure from Real Madrid — signing a four-year deal at Juventus for a total fee of €112 million — came as no surprise. After a full day of meet-and-greet activities on “CR7 Day,” Ronaldo made his Serie A debut in a 3-2 win over Chievo, and Ronaldo-mania officially took over Turin.
Seeing Red
Total red cards 12
Games missed 23
A month later, Ronaldo was shown the first red card of his Champions League career after he appeared to contact Valencia defender Jeison Murillo on the back of his head. After slamming the ground with his hands in anger, Ronaldo left the pitch in tears.
Investigation reopened
While Ronaldo was serving out his suspension in Italy, police in Las Vegas were reopening a criminal investigation at the request of an American woman who had alleged that Ronaldo raped her in 2009. A federal judge eventually dismissed the lawsuit in 2022. Ronaldo was never charged and has denied the allegations.
Ronaldo flying goal compared with other sports leaps
It’s not often you see a goal in football compared to a basketball dunk. But that’s exactly what happened with Ronaldo’s towering, gravity-defying header against Sampdoria on Dec. 18, 2019. “Ronaldo did something that you see in the NBA,” opposition coach Claudio Ranieri said, in awe. “He was up in the air for an hour and a half.”
The full complement
Juventus’ 2021 Coppa Italia win, beating Atalanta 2-1 in the final, was notable for two reasons: It made Ronaldo the first player to win every major domestic trophy in England, Spain and Italy. It was also the last major trophy Ronaldo has won to date. He left Juventus three months later, meaning that one of the key objectives of both player and club during his time in Turin — winning the Champions League — would remain unfulfilled.
All-time International Scorer
With his first of two goals against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, Ronaldo became the leader in international goals scored. He still is top of the list, with 135 goals in 217 appearances for Portugal.
Back to Man United
Ronaldo was so close to joining Manchester City from Juventus that he held conversations with manager Pep Guardiola. When former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson found out, he stepped in to make sure United came up with an offer that could successfully lure CR7 back to Old Trafford. The deal was signed off by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ronaldo made his triumphant return with two goals in a 4-1 win over Newcastle.
Family moments
One look at Ronaldo’s Instagram account reveals that family has become an increasingly important aspect of the Portuguese star’s life. Indeed, it must have been a proud moment when his eldest son, Cristiano Jr., took his iconic No. 7 shirt at Manchester United in February 2022 while in the club’s academy.
The benching at Tottenham
Once Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021, Ronaldo’s relationship with United began to deteriorate. He angered new coach Erik ten Hag by leaving Old Trafford before the end of a friendly against Rayo Vallecano in July 2022, and went one step further later in the season by refusing to come on as a late substitute in a Premier League game against Tottenham. Ronaldo was suspended for one game and subsequently apologised.
The interview that changed it all
World Cup controvers
Nothing lasts forever. The 2022 World Cup wasn’t the end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career — which continues to this day — but it was the end of his status as an undisputed starter for his country.
Enter Al Nassr
Yearly salary $75M
Years 2.5
A new chapter. Saudi club Al Nassr confirmed Ronaldo’s signing on a 2½-year contract on Dec. 30, 2021, and four days later, he was presented in Riyadh. His arrival was the launchpad for the Saudi Pro League’s rapid transformation into a destination for elite players. Ronaldo was greeted by thousands of fans at Al Nassr’s 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park in a ceremony that was shown around the world. “In Europe, my work is done,” Ronaldo told the media.
Fame reaches fever pitch
As if his position at the very apex of sporting stardom was ever in doubt, Ronaldo passed a major milestone in October 2018 when he officially became the most followed person on Instagram.
Ronaldo had previously become the first male celebrity to amass 100 million followers on the platform in May 2017, with the Portugal captain reaching 144,338,650 followers shortly after leaving Real Madrid for Juventus. That total overtook the follower count of Selena Gomez — just after the singer and actor had announced she was taking a break from social media — crowning Cristiano as “King of the Gram.”
Ronaldo remains the most followed person on Instagram with 647 million, meaning he is second only to Instagram’s own official account (684m). (For the record, Lionel Messi is third with 504m followers.) Ronaldo commands an almost unparalleled online clout, with his reach extending beyond 1 billion followers across all social media platforms.
Over a trophy-laden career spanning a quarter of a century, Ronaldo has truly elevated his global celebrity to a level beyond almost all other footballers, past or present. He is mentioned among the GOATs in all of sport, including seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
The two modern legends hung out at Old Trafford a day before Brady announced he would unretire. Brady went on to win one last Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022. Coincidence? Maybe.
Ronaldo’s international popularity was a major factor in him securing his record-breaking contract with Al Nassr. “We had a vision, a plan, everything in place, but everything started with Ronaldo,” Saudi journalist Abdulhadi Almistadi told ESPN. “He took our vision to another level, so that any doubts would go away. … Cristiano is the most followed person in the world. So when he came here, people saw the cities, the country, the games, the fans, everything. The most-watched league in the world after the Big Five is now the Saudi League.”
The news of Ronaldo’s contract quickly broke Al Nassr’s website, with visitors receiving a message that site traffic exceeded bandwidth limits. In one week, Al Nassr’s Instagram account went from 853,000 to more than 10 million.
He “broke the internet” again when he busted out his “SIUUU” celebration alongside YouTube and streaming megastars like IShowSpeed and MrBeast, introducing himself to a whole new generation of adoring fans in the process.
“His impact is huge,” journalist Rawan Hamdan said. “Our league was a good league even before Cristiano and other players came, but after they came, the world knew about us.”
Arab Club Champion
Ronaldo’s first trophy with Al Nassr came in the Arab Club Champions Cup, scoring twice — including a 98th minute extra time winner — in a 2-1 final win over Al Hilal. The victory came against the odds, with Al Nassr playing the final stages, including extra time, with nine men. The Arab Club Champions Cup isn’t officially recognized by FIFA, though, so at least in terms of the record books, Ronaldo’s wait for another major trophy continues.
Goodbye, Europe
A disappointing Euro 2024 — personally for Ronaldo and collectively for Portugal — ended with elimination, on penalties, to France in the quarterfinals. Coach Roberto Martinez had faced heavy criticism for continuing to pick an ageing Ronaldo at centre-forward, to the team’s detriment, a fact reflected in Ronaldo’s failure to score a single goal at the tournament. He admitted — perhaps stating the obvious — that he wouldn’t play in another Euros but suggested that his international career would continue, for now.
Alone at the top of 900
Ronaldo reached another milestone in Portugal’s UEFA Nations League game with Croatia, scoring his 900th competitive goal in a 2-1 win in Lisbon. No other men’s player has come close to the figure, with Lionel Messi well behind on 850, followed by Pelé. “I dreamed of this, and I have more dreams,” Ronaldo posted enigmatically on social media afterwards, having earlier said that “only I — and the people around me — know how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit.”
Happy 40th, CR7
After his 900th goal, Ronaldo enigmatically posted on social media that he still had more dreams to realize. He turned 40 years old on Feb. 5, and on Jan. 9 he became the first player to score in 24 consecutive calendar years. He has added five more to his total since and currently stands at 922 career goals.
So what next: 1,000 goals? And will it be with Al Nassr, with his huge, $75m-per-year contract due to expire this summer? “It’s just my opinion, but I think he might stay [in Saudi Arabia] but with another club,” journalist Abdulhadi Almistadi told ESPN. “I think he wants to change teams. It’s a competitive league; when it comes to winning, a team like Al Hilal is different.”
What about other marks he’s still chasing? Ronaldo has indicated that he is not yet ready to retire from international duty, so he will need to keep playing club football if he wants to remain Portugal’s captain.
The World Cup is one of the few glaring omissions on his extensive honour roll. That was brought into sharp relief when Messi led Argentina to glory in Qatar in an all-time classic final victory over France.
Ronaldo’s hopes of claiming the World Cup goal record are negligible — he’d need to double his career tally to match Miroslav Klose’s total of 16 — but he has one final shot at being part of a first World Cup triumph for Portugal next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico. While the prospect of that happening is far from certain, you wouldn’t bet against him being part of the squad. His international teammate Bruno Fernandes agrees, saying recently: “I am almost certain that he will be there.”
When it comes to goal records, though, Ronaldo has a more impressive one in his sights: becoming the first men’s player to officially score 1,000 professional goals. Brazil legend Pelé’s supposed career tally of 1,283 is the topic of much debate because it includes goals scored in friendlies and record-keeping was less rigorous during his playing days. For a man who has been driven on for so much of his career by breaking records and making history, don’t bet against Ronaldo.
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