Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from Portugal’s national team on social media on November 5, 2026.
Since first wearing the national team shirt in August 2003, Ronaldo has represented his country for 23 years. He scored 146 goals in 234 senior international appearances, setting men’s football world records for both the most national team appearances and the most international goals.
Ronaldo released a video lasting about five minutes with the caption “Portugal estará sempre em mim” (“Portugal will always be in me”), saying it was time to pass the national team’s No. 7 shirt to the next generation.
Portugal’s No. 7: A 23-year journey
Ronaldo’s national team career began on August 20, 2003, in a friendly against Kazakhstan.
Then 18, he came on for Rui Costa at the start of the second half. For more than two decades afterward, he was at the heart of Portuguese football.
At the 2004 European Championship, hosted by Portugal, he reached the final but missed out on the title after a loss to Greece. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he helped Portugal reach the semifinals and grew into a global star.
His most emblematic achievement with the national team was winning the 2016 European Championship.
Portugal beat host nation France 1-0 after extra time in the final to claim its first major international tournament title. Ronaldo, then captain, had to leave the match injured in the 25th minute of the first half, but he urged on his teammates from the sidelines and shared in the historic moment.
Portugal went on to win the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019 and claimed the title again in 2025 against Spain. In the 2025 final, Ronaldo scored a 61st-minute equalizer in the second half to send the match into extra time. After a 2-2 draw, Portugal won the penalty shootout 5-3 to become the competition’s first two-time champion.
234 appearances, 146 goals: A career in numbers
With 146 goals in 234 appearances for Portugal, Ronaldo holds the men’s football records for both the most national team appearances and the most international goals.
He scored twice against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in September 2021 to surpass Iran’s Ali Daei as the leading scorer in men’s international football. In a match against Iceland in June 2023, he became the first men’s footballer to reach 200 senior international appearances.
He made his sixth World Cup appearance at the 2026 tournament in North America and became the first player to score at six World Cup finals, from Germany 2006 through 2026.
According to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Ronaldo scored 14 goals at European Championship finals and also holds the records for the most finals appearances and goals.
A farewell that put his country before records
In Ronaldo’s retirement announcement, he focused less on records or trophies than on the people of Portugal and those who had shared his time with the national team.
He said he had experienced many victories and defeats with the national team, but what would be remembered longer than his goals and trophies were the moments that stayed in people’s hearts. He thanked his teammates, coaches, medical staff, club and national team officials, and family.
Looking back on his international career, he emphasized that although he had spent his life striving to become the best player in the world, his greatest victory was being able to represent his country, Portugal.
The retirement decision has also drawn attention because it came just over a month after Ronaldo said he intended to continue playing for the national team after the 2026 World Cup.
Last September, he expressed confidence that he could continue his international career, though reports later emerged of a dispute with the national team coaching staff over playing time.
In his retirement video, however, Ronaldo did not directly cite that dispute as a reason for retiring. He stressed that his decision had been a difficult one that could not be made on reason alone.
Ronaldo’s retirement marks a turning point for Portugal’s national team as it bids farewell to a figure it has long relied on and moves toward a new generation. His records reflect both individual achievement and 23 years of Portugal’s rise to the top of Europe and its success in proving itself on the international stage.
The boy who kicked a football on the island of Madeira grew into a historic player for his country. Now his international career has come to an end.
It is not yet known who will next wear the No. 7 shirt, but Ronaldo’s record and history of triumphs in Portuguese football will remain an important benchmark for the national team.
Below is a translation of Ronaldo’s retirement video
To the people of Portugal: the day has come for me to hand back the national team’s No. 7 shirt, which belongs to us all.
I have never thought of this shirt as mine alone. But for the past 23 years, I have had the honor and responsibility of wearing it, defending it and sharing it on pitches around the world.
Now it is time to pass that uniform on to the next generation.
It was by no means an easy decision. Some decisions cannot be made with the head alone. They must be made with the heart, too.
I am now bringing to a close the journey that began in August 2003 and changed my life forever.
When I look back on my time with the national team, it is not just matches and goals, records and trophies that come to mind.
I see people. I think of the immigrants who felt that, for 90 minutes, their homeland of Portugal was a little closer.
I also think of the millions of Portuguese people who became part of my life, though I have never met them in person.
Ultimately, football means far more than just a game. At the heart of football are people.
Throughout my time playing for the national team, I worked to push beyond my limits.
I wanted to win, to be the best, and to make history.
I was always hard on myself. I always wanted more, and I believed we could go further.
And I gave everything I had for this uniform.
There were perfect days and nights, and victories I will never forget. There were also defeats that are still painful to recall.
I, too, failed and suffered. There were times when I could not give the people of Portugal what they had so dearly hoped for.
But I never gave up. Above all, I never lost, for even a moment, the pride of representing Portugal.
Over the years, I have come to realize some very simple truths.
The moment of a goal passes, trophies end up in museums, and records are bound to be broken someday.
But there is something time can never erase: the place we have earned in people’s hearts.
If I have brought you happiness, if one of my goals has comforted someone, helped them forget a difficult moment or made them feel proud of our homeland, then every moment was worth it.
That, too, is what it means to be Portuguese. We hurt together, rise together and dare to hope once more.
Portugal will always need young people who dream, players who never give up and a new generation that believes it can go further than anyone has before.
A country that keeps producing new heroes is a country that never loses faith in itself.
I want to say something special to my national team teammates.
Thank you for every moment: the times we ran together, the times we embraced, the conversations we shared and even the silence before we stepped onto the pitch.
Thank you for every victory we celebrated together and every defeat that made us stronger.
It was a great honor to be your captain. But no captain can walk this path alone. You are part of my history.
I thank all the coaches, executives, medical staff, physiotherapists, equipment managers, employees and countless others who have been with me over the years.
Many of you did not appear in the photographs, but without you, none of the moments captured in them would have been possible.
I also want to thank my family for sharing this dream with me.
Thank you for understanding the time I could not be by your side, the sacrifices, and the times I had to give the national team the time I should have spent with my family.
I have come this far because we have always held hands.
And finally, I want to say one thing to all the Portuguese people around the world.
There is one moment I will cherish for the rest of my life: the moment the national anthem begins to ring out.
Look around and you see your teammates and the stands. You see children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and Portuguese people who have traveled a long way just to be there with us.
And for those few minutes, we are no longer different from one another.
In that moment, club allegiances, the colors we support, social class, profession and differences of opinion cease to exist.
There is only one passion: Portugal.
I will carry that feeling in my heart for the rest of my life.
Today marks the end of my journey on the pitch as a national team player.
I leave with my head held high, proud of the path I have traveled and knowing that I gave everything I had for Portugal.
But I will always be one of you. I will continue to watch Portugal’s matches with bated breath, cheer passionately and celebrate every victory with you from the heart.
I have spent my whole life working to become the best footballer in the world.
But now I realize that the greatest victory of my life was earning the right to represent the best country in the world.
I am grateful for the past 23 years. Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for letting me live out the dream that began when I was a young boy chasing a ball around Madeira.
The No. 7 jersey will stay here, but the pride of having worn it will remain with me forever.
Portugal will always be in my heart.
I bid you the farewell I had hoped for.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
