Soccer
Cristiano Ronaldo says goodbye to Portugal: the end of a 23-year era
On Thursday, November 5, 2026, Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from international football. In a video of about five minutes posted on his social media accounts, the 41-year-old handed back Portugal's No. 7 shirt, closing one of the greatest international careers the game has ever seen.
The announcement, on video
On camera, Ronaldo reads out a farewell letter, interspersed with clips of his greatest moments in the red and green shirt. "To the Portuguese people, the day has come for me to hand back the No. 7 shirt of our national team," he says. "Today the time has come to pass it on to the future. It was not an easy decision, because some decisions are not made with the mind alone — they are also made with the heart. A journey that began in August 2003 and changed my life forever has come to an end."
The No. 7 shirt will have another owner, but the 23 years spent wearing it will remain his alone. The Portuguese Football Federation saluted the announcement and plans a special tribute to its historic captain.
Numbers nobody will match
The statistics are staggering. Ronaldo leaves the national team with 234 appearances and 146 goals — both all-time records in men's international football. He debuted on August 20, 2003, aged 18, against Kazakhstan, and scored at six different World Cups, another record. At the 2026 finals he still found the net three times, taking his World Cup tally to 11, before Portugal went out in the last 16, beaten 1-0 by eventual champions Spain.
Above all, he gave Portugal its first major trophies: Euro 2016 in France, then the Nations League in 2019 and again in 2025.
A stormy ending
The farewell was far from smooth. At the end of September, Ronaldo left the Portugal camp in Copenhagen without permission, ahead of a Nations League match against Denmark. After his apology, the federation handed him a 30-day suspension and a €255 fine.
His final appearance will therefore be the 1-0 Nations League win over Wales on September 24. The announcement comes one day before head coach Jorge Jesus names his squad for the final group games on November 6 — a squad Ronaldo, according to several Portuguese media outlets, was expected to be part of. He told the federation president of his decision, but not his coach.
What comes next?
This is not a farewell to football: Ronaldo continues with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, still chasing a symbolic milestone — the 1,000th goal of his career. He currently sits on 985. For Portugal, a page turns.
A month earlier, his great rival Lionel Messi also bid farewell to Argentina, after a farewell match of his own. Within a few weeks, international football has lost its two biggest figures.