About to retire? Ronaldo confirms that the 2026 World Cup will be the "last World Cup" of his career

Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo announced on Tuesday that the 2026 World Cup will be the last World Cup in his career as he is about to end his career.

As a football legend, Ronaldo said on the Saudi forum "Tourise": "I will be 41 years old by then, and this will be the last World Cup I participate in."

In an interview with Piers Morgan last week, Ronaldo further admitted the fact that he was about to retire. He said: "Retirement is a frustrating thing, I may cry. Yes, it makes me very uncomfortable."

C Ronaldo's career began with Sporting CP in 2002. So far, he has scored more than 950 goals for club and national team, which is a remarkable achievement.

After leaving Manchester United for the second time at the end of 2022, Ronaldo joined Riyadh Victory with an annual salary of up to 200 million euros. This move led a group of top stars to land in the oil kingdom later in their careers.

In June this year, Ronaldo successfully renewed his contract with Riyadh until 2027. He hopes to win the World Cup next year.

In the business field, Ronaldo has also achieved great success. Last month, he was named football's first billionaire by Bloomberg and topped Forbes' annual list of the highest-paid footballers six times. Forbes estimates that Ronaldo's total on- and off-field income is as high as $280 million, which will be more than double that of Messi (ranked second) in the upcoming season.

It is reported that Ronaldo’s success in joining Riyadh is closely related to Saudi Arabia’s national strategy. As part of its economic diversification plan, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in the sports and entertainment industry, and in December last year it won the right to host the 2034 World Cup.

The information in this article comes from gulfnews