{"id":785501,"date":"2026-07-07T06:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785501\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T06:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:46:16","slug":"all-to-know-about-ronaldos-world-cup-career-as-it-ends-in-spain-loss-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785501\/","title":{"rendered":"All to know about Ronaldo\u2019s World Cup career as it ends in Spain loss | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

The Portuguese captain became the only player to score in six World Cups after his brace against Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 6 Jul 20266 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

It was a humid, sticky afternoon in Dallas when the curtain fell<\/a> on Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s illustrious FIFA World Cup career after Portugal lost to Spain in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

The match on Monday<\/a> marked the last time the football legend would take to the pitch for his country in the global tournament, where he left his mark across six editions.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Ronaldo \u2060\u2060confirmed his World Cup farewell after the match, saying:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m sad to be leaving the World Cup like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave it my all. I did my best, and I\u2019m leaving with a clear conscience. It was my last World Cup, yes, but I\u2019ll now have time to reflect and be with my family. I won\u2019t be making any rash decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old stopped short of confirming whether he had played his final game for Portugal, saying he did not want a personal decision to overshadow the team\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo took one final look around Dallas Stadium as he fought back tears and applauded the crowd before slowly making his way to the locker room one last time, clutching the captain\u2019s armband in his hand.<\/p>\n

Although he walks away without ever having lifted the World Cup trophy, Ronaldo is one of the few players to have had a career this distinguished.<\/p>\n

What World Cup records does Ronaldo hold?<\/p>\n

Ronaldo became the first and only player to score at six different World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026) when, at this year\u2019s group stage, his brace helped Portugal thrash Uzbekistan 5-0.<\/p>\n

The global icon is Portugal\u2019s most-capped player, with 27 tournament appearances that produced 11 goals for his country.<\/p>\n

His penalty kick against Croatia this year marked his first goal in the tournament\u2019s knockout stage and made him the oldest goalscorer in World Cup knockout history at 41 years and 147 days.<\/p>\n

Overall, he is the second-oldest goalscorer at a World Cup after Cameroon\u2019s Roger Milla, who was 42 years and 39 days old when he scored against Russia in 1994.<\/p>\n

How does Ronaldo compare with Messi?<\/p>\n

The Portuguese captain has 27 tournament appearances compared with Lionel Messi\u2019s 30, though the Argentinian captain\u2019s tally will rise as he continues his side\u2019s title defence.<\/p>\n

Messi stretched his legacy as the World Cup\u2019s all-time goalscorer when he netted his 20th goal<\/a> to lead his side to victory against a valiant Cape Verde in Miami last week.<\/p>\n

While Ronaldo, Messi and Mexico\u2019s veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa share the distinction of playing in six World Cups, Ronaldo trumps his Argentinian rival by scoring in each edition of the global showpiece, whereas Messi failed to score in 2010.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for the Portuguese forward?<\/p>\n

Ronaldo gave an emotional announcement on his World Cup swansong, albeit on his own terms, when he spoke to reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have given all I could to football. It\u2019s my passion to play for so many years. I didn\u2019t do it out of need; I\u2019m doing well in life. It\u2019s about passion. I play for the national team, and I love to play football,\u201d the 41-year-old said.<\/p>\n

He is expected to make an announcement regarding his retirement from international football but is also expected to continue playing in the Saudi Pro League for Al-Nassr, with whom he recently won the league title.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Portugal manager Roberto Martinez said he was leaving his role after the loss to Spain, calling the defeat the end of a cycle for the team.<\/p>\n

Martinez praised Ronaldo as an exemplary captain and thanked him for his contribution to Portugal, while avoiding further comment on the player\u2019s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portuguese captain became the only player to score in six World Cups after his brace against Uzbekistan.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[527,43,44,457,41,39,42,40,1690,13010],"class_list":["post-785501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-football","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785501","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=785501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}