{"id":572028,"date":"2026-03-31T02:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572028\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:55:10","slug":"cristiano-ronaldos-portugal-future-beyond-2026-world-cup-uncertain-says-roberto-martinez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572028\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Portugal future beyond 2026 World Cup uncertain, says Roberto Martinez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> recently turned 41, and while the soccer world\u2019s attention is firmly fixed on the 2026 World Cup, the future of one of the sport\u2019s greatest legends remains an open question. With fewer than three months to go before the tournament in North America, head coach Roberto Martinez<\/a> has acknowledged that Ronaldo\u2019s future with the Portugal national team is still uncertain, even beyond the World Cup.<\/p>\n

As far back as late 2025, Ronaldo had acknowledged that the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico would be his last World Cup<\/a>. \u201cDefinitely, yes, because I will be 41 years old,\u201d the striker told CNN anchor Becky Anderson in November, while also indicating that his overall retirement timeline extends \u201cprobably one, two years\u201d beyond that.<\/p>\n

Even so, that does not necessarily mean the World Cup will mark Ronaldo\u2019s final appearance in a Portugal<\/a> shirt. Asked on Monday by Ben Jacobs about when the star might call it quits internationally, Martinez admitted he has stopped trying to predict it: \u201cIt is difficult for me to say. I have learned very quickly not to predict the future with Cristiano. He has got this elite brain about being the best he can be today. If you ask him, he\u2019ll tell you the same. He doesn\u2019t make plans.\u201c<\/p>\n

At the same press conference ahead of the clash against the United States, Martinez also spoke to Ronaldo\u2019s continued importance in the squad. \u201cCristiano is our captain. He has been very influential and important. We won the Nations League with him. His role is important in our team, making the last movements in the box, his goalscoring threat and the way he can finish off moves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"CristianoCristiano Ronaldo and Roberto Martinez, Manager of Portugal. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis mindset is quite inspiring. He just lives every day as if it was his last one, and he wants to improve. You don\u2019t know when is going to be the end,\u201d Martinez concluded, speaking just days after revealing that much of the current squad views Ronaldo as a role model<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although Ronaldo is sitting out the March friendlies with a hamstring injury, Martinez has already made his intentions clear, stating that \u201cfor the World Cup, the center-forward position belongs to Cristiano and Goncalo Ramos.\u201d With one additional striker spot still to be filled, it is clear that the former Real Madrid man will be first choice up front when fit.<\/p>\n

Could Ronaldo make it to the 26-27 Nations League? <\/p>\n

While Ronaldo has confirmed that the 2026 World Cup will be his last, he has not said it will be his final appearance in a Portugal shirt. In fact, the \u201cone or two years\u201d of playing career he has suggested he has left could align comfortably with a run at the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League, where Portugal would enter as defending champions.<\/p>\n

Last February, UEFA conducted the draw for the fifth edition of the Nations League and released the full fixture schedule. Portugal, placed in League A Group 4, will face Denmark, Norway and Wales, with the group stage to be played across the September, October and November international windows.<\/p>\n

With the quarterfinals scheduled for March 2027 and the Nations League Finals set for June 9-13, 2027, the timeline lines up with the final weeks of Ronaldo\u2019s current Al Nassr contract, which runs through June 30. Should Portugal go all the way, Ronaldo could cap his international career by helping the Selecao become the first nation to win back-to-back Nations League titles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo recently turned 41, and while the soccer world\u2019s attention is firmly fixed on the 2026 World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,3635,11546,561,82,13009],"class_list":{"0":"post-572028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","11":"tag-portugal","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}