Cristiano Ronaldo has offered perhaps the clearest indication yet that the end of his extraordinary playing career is approaching, revealing that the 2026-27 campaign could be his final season in professional football. The 41-year-old, who continues to play for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, spoke about his future while discussing life with Georgina Rodríguez following their recent marriage. Ronaldo and Rodríguez married in an intimate ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, on August 11, exactly 10 years after they first met.
What began as a conversation about marriage and family eventually turned towards Ronaldo's future beyond football, with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner making a striking admission about how little time he may have left on the pitch.
“This is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,” Ronaldo told Vogue. The choice of the word “probably” is significant. Ronaldo stopped short of formally announcing his retirement or confirming an exact date for his final match, but his comments indicate that he is preparing for the possibility of bringing his career to an end when the current season is over.
For a player whose professional career has stretched across more than two decades and included spells at Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al-Nassr, retirement would inevitably represent a dramatic change in lifestyle.
Ronaldo, however, suggested that he has already thought extensively about what comes next.
“I have my future all mapped out,” Ronaldo said. He went on to explain that he expects football's absence to create a sizeable void in his life and therefore intends to occupy himself in several different ways rather than replacing the sport with one single pursuit. “I have so many things to keep me busy that to tell you just one thing is hard. Because football could leave a big hole, you have to fill your time in various ways, not just one. And also have more fun, travel more, watch and play padel, which I really like, and continue to enjoy what I’ve earned—what we’ve earned. Because after all it’s been 25 years with a lot of sacrifice,” said Ronaldo.
Family is expected to become an even greater priority. Ronaldo also plans to travel more, spend time enjoying the life he and his family have built and devote more attention to padel, a sport he enjoys both watching and playing. He reflected on the sacrifices required across approximately 25 years at the highest levels of football. The revelation arrives with Ronaldo still an active Al-Nassr player and at the age of 41. He has also only recently completed his sixth World Cup with Portugal, extending an international career that has already made him one of the most enduring figures in the sport.
Ronaldo's comments therefore do not amount to an official retirement announcement, but they represent one of his strongest public acknowledgements that the finish line is now close. His career has already spanned England, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia and produced five Ballon d'Or awards, five Champions League titles and a collection of goalscoring records. Real Madrid alone credit Ronaldo with 451 goals in 438 competitive appearances, making him the club's all-time leading scorer.
Now, for perhaps the first time, Ronaldo is openly talking not only about what remains to be achieved in football, but about the life waiting for him after it. And if 2026-27 does prove to be the final chapter, Ronaldo has made his objective for that farewell season unmistakable: to ensure that the legacy he leaves behind matches the scale of the career that preceded it.
Probuddha Bhattacharjee is a sports writer and analyst with expertise spanning cricket, football, and multi-sport events, with a strong emphasis on data-driven journalism and tactical storytelling. He currently focuses on international cricket, the Indian Premier League, global tournaments, and emerging trends shaping modern sport, blending advanced statistics with strong narrative context to explain performance, strategy, and decision-making. His work aims to bridge the gap between numbers and storytelling, helping readers understand not just what happened on the field, but the tactical and structural reasons behind it. Trained in data journalism through the Google News Initiative (GNI) Data Journalism Lab, Probuddha works extensively with ball-by-ball datasets, performance metrics, and trend-based modelling to produce evidence-backed reports, explainers, and long-form features. His analytical approach focuses not only on outcomes but also on process—selection strategies, phase-wise tactics, workload management, and the influence of preparation and planning on match results. He is particularly interested in how statistical patterns reshape conventional cricketing narratives and provide clearer tactical insight for modern audiences. Beyond cricket, Probuddha has written analytical and news-driven pieces on football and other major sporting events, with a growing interest in sports governance, scheduling dynamics, and the economics of elite competitions. He also tracks how rule changes, franchise structures, and broadcast pressures influence the evolution of contemporary sport. He has previously contributed to platforms such as OneCricket, Sportskeeda, and CrickTracker, and continues to specialise in analytical storytelling, live coverage, and audience-focused reporting. His work prioritises clarity, context, and credibility, while consistently exploring innovative ways to present data through accessible narratives and structured match analysis.Read More
