Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about his remaining career goals after being presented yet another individual award in his native Portugal this week, in recognition of 22 years of service to the national team.
Ronaldo will celebrate his 41st birthday in February but has a contract with Al Nassr until 2027 and is expecting to play at a sixth World Cup next year—together, he and Lionel Messi will jointly break the record for most World Cup tournament appearances set by Germany’s Lothar Matthäus in 1998.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner admitted he doesn’t have “many” years left and is no longer obsessively pursuing particular targets like he did in his youth. But winning the World Cup with Portugal, who have never finished higher than third (1966), is something he’d like to do.
Ronaldo, the first soccer billionaire, helped Portugal win a first ever major international trophy at Euro 2016, but he watched Messi steer Argentina to victory at the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“I think I still have a lot to contribute to the national team and to football. I want to keep playing for a few years, not many, I have to be honest,” he said on stage, via .
“I want to thank all my teammates, for having learned from all of them—and even from this younger generation as well. For me, it’s a privilege to be with you. Our goal is to win the next two [qualifying] games and be in the World Cup. The World Cup will come soon. We have to think solely and exclusively about the present, but with our thoughts ahead. It would be a dream [to win it].
He added: “But step by step. Obviously, our goal is to go to the World Cup and win, as we all want, but we have to go step by step.”
Portugal face Republic of Ireland and Hungary over the coming days. Two victories in those games, if Armenia also fail to take more than a point from their two fixtures, would mean qualifying for the 2026 finals in North America right away, with two more games to spare.
