‘Spectacular Legacy’—Cristiano Ronaldo Gives Clearest Indication Yet of Retirement Plans

Cristiano Ronaldo has strongly hinted that the 2026–27 season will be the last of his career, the end of which will mark a quarter of a century since debuting for Sporting CP at 17 years old.

Ronaldo turns 42 in February and has a contract until June with Al Nassr, who start the new Saudi Pro League campaign on Saturday as reigning champions by beating Al Fateh without the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. He has only just returned from a summer break that included his marriage to long-term partner Georgina Rodríguez in a small ceremony in Portugal.

Finally getting hitched a decade after first meeting at a Gucci store in Madrid was tribute to 10 years as a couple more than anything else. Georgina told Vogue in an interview recorded five days before the intimate ceremony—held in their new summer house in the wealthy town of Cascais near Lisbon—that the “big wedding with family and friends” will follow “in the future.”

Only four witnesses—none of Ronaldo’s family—and the five children were in attendance. She said it has been a “crazy year” filled with “work commitments, competitions, kids.”

But Ronaldo will have much more time on his hands relatively soon.

In the joint, lengthy interview, he offered: “This is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy.”

1,000 Goals Will Complete Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Spectacular Legacy’

It isn’t the first time he’s pointed towards 2027 as the end. Last year, Ronaldo said “one or two years” and he’ll be done, aligning his projected retirement with the conclusion of the $470 million contract signed with Al Nassr in June 2025. He has played his last World Cup, with the 2026 tournament dubbed by older sister Kátia Aveiro his “last dance” with Portugal.

Ronaldo already holds the world records for national appearances (233) and goals (146) in men’s soccer. But something bigger is within reach: 1,000 career goals.

Aside from eight national championships in four different countries, four national cups, five UEFA Champions Leagues and an historic 2016 European Championship, among 35 trophies at the club and international level, Ronaldo is desperately close to 1,000 officially recognized goals.

Nobody in soccer history has ever achieved that. Lionel Messi is the only other to have surpassed 900 goals and is still 79 shy of 1,000. Brazil icon Pelé claimed during his lifetime to have scored 1,281 goals, but literally hundreds came in unofficial friendly matches and exhibitions, and his official tally came in at 757. Ronaldo surpassed that in 2021.

To date, Ronaldo has scored 976 times for Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr and Portugal. It’s not getting any easier for him due to age, and he’s scoring fewer goals year to year for Al Nassr. Still, he got 30 in 37 matches last season and only needs 24 more across all competitions in 2026–27 to hit the 1,000-goal milestone.

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