When Will Ronaldo Retire?

Will Cristiano Ronaldo Ever Retire?

Despite what you may think of him Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest footballing talents to have ever stepped foot on a football pitch.

He has won a whopping 5 Balon D'ors, 8 Player of the Year awards in the Champions League, Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. He has also won 22 Golden Boots across all leagues and competitions, 4 European golden boots, 12 footballer of the year awards, a Puskas award, 3 The Best FIFA men's player awards, 4 UEFA best player in Europe awards.

That's an absolutely insane haul trophy hall and that's just his individual accolades, it's insanity when you think how much he's achieved in his career and yet he's still going at the ripe age of 40.

So it begs the question if he's already achieved pretty much everything he can win in football then why is he still playing and when will he finally call it a day on one of the best careers ever seen in the history of the sport.

F*ck it, all 140 Cristiano Ronaldo goals in the Champions League.

Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/2oMWZ3RkHY

— 10 (@Kylian) December 22, 2025

The Quest To Hit 1,000 Career Goals

The most likely reason Ronaldo is still playing is fuelled by the desire to be the first ever player to have scored 1,000 career goals. Allegedly Pele hit over 1,000 goals through his career but nobody can actually verify this, therefore Ronaldo would be the first to have scored 1,000 with every single goal being verified.

He currently sits on 954 goals as of writing, here's a quick breakdown of where he scored the goals:

1. Real Madrid - 451
2. Manchester United - 145
3. Portugal National Team - 143
4. Al-Nassr - 106
5. Juventus - 101
6. Sporting CP - 5

With only 46 more to score before he hits this number and the rate he's still scoring over in Saudi Arabia we can assume that the end of next season may be when CR7 finally calls an end to his career but that's assuming that hitting 1,000 goals is the only motivator for him still going.

In this almost unfathomable number of goals he has also scored some of the most iconic in the sport. Everyone reading will be able to think of at least one of his goals that made you think he can't be human.

Some of the standouts might be the knuckleball free-kick against Portsmouth or the long ranger in the Champions League semi-finals against Arsenal or perhaps even his Bicycle kick in the Champions League quarter-finals against Juventus.

In short if you haven't please go watch a compilation of all Ronaldo's career goals and I can promise you the most entertaining 1-2 hours imaginable.

This view of Cristiano Ronaldo’s bicycle kick vs Juventus is insane 🤯

pic.twitter.com/55J1PbaJYR

— Preeti (@MadridPreeti) October 29, 2025

The Money Motivator

Ok this is the more pessimistic angle as to why Ronaldo has not yet retired and also provides a much later date for potential retirement for one of football's GOAT's.

In the summer CR7 renewed his contract at Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr until the summer of 2027, he will be 42 years old by the time this contract finishes.

You might wonder why he signed a contract renewal that will see him through to such an old footballing age when he's already done virtually everything you can do in football, well the wages and features of his new deal explains a lot.

As per The Sun, details of his contract renewal have emerged and it is absolutely insane. His deal could see him earn a minimum of £492m over the next two years.

The breakdown of this is a basic salary of £488,000 per day, a £24.5m signing bonus which increases to £38m if he triggers the second year of his contract, a 15 percent stake in Al-Nassr worth £33m and bonuses of £4m for a golden boot and £8 if Al-Nassr win the title.

So judging by the contract we can imagine that CR7 will retire at the end of this mega-deal contract in 2027 and having so much money to play for another 2 years at the twilight of your career is only something we can say 'yeah fair enough' to.

🇵🇹💰 Details of Cristiano Ronaldo's new contract at Al Nassr... 🤑

• 178m-a-year
• £3.4m-a-week
• 15% ownership of Al-Nassr (estimated to be worth £33m)
• £24.5m signing bonus - increasing to £38m if he activates the second year of his contract
• £80,000 bonus per goal… pic.twitter.com/w65E2x3c3P

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) June 26, 2025

One More World Cup

The second most valid claim as to why Ronaldo is still playing is that he wants one last World Cup with Portugal as a final goodbye to his career and to say goodbye to the national team he has given so much to.

There has been a lot of controversy around the World Cup in 2026 and questions over the likelihood of Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the tournament however it has been confirmed that he will be playing and it will be his last World Cup.

The tournament will be his sixth World Cup he has played in and going by the route to the final for the Portugal side looks likely to be another unsuccessful tournament. The route will most likely include sides such as Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Spain and France as potential opponents in the quest to win the tournament.

He has won the Euros with his national team however its questionable that Portugal have the strength to go all the way, especially with the strength of their likely opponents on the route to victory.

Although who knows maybe they can make it through pure passion and desire to give their captain the one trophy that has alluded him his whole career, guess we'll find out in 2026.

Ronaldo and Messi have a chance to play in the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup 👀

Imagine the scenes if these two legends faced off in Arrowhead 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DSQBc8IpI7

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 5, 2025