RIYADH (AP) \u2014 Cristiano Ronaldo says this Saudi Pro League season is likely to be the last of his professional career.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old superstar\u2019s contract with Riyadh club Al-Nassr, signed in December 2022, expires next June, and he has told Vogue magazine that another is unlikely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,\u201d Ronaldo said.<\/p>\n
The Portugal forward, who has scored 976 career goals, married long-time partner, Georgina Rodriguez, earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my future all mapped out,\u201d he said. \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also have more fun, travel more, watch and play padel, which I really like, and continue to enjoy what I\u2019ve earned \u2014 what we\u2019ve earned. Because after all, it\u2019s been 25 years with a lot of sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026-27 SPL season is Ronaldo\u2019s 25th as a professional. During his career, he has won five Ballon d\u2019Or awards and five UEFA Champions League titles.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo\u2019s 28 league goals last season helped Al-Nassr become champion of Saudi Arabia in May to secure his first trophy since arriving in Riyadh, and a first league title for the club since 2019.<\/p>\n
After returning from his wedding, he missed Al-Nassr\u2019s first game of its title defense on Saturday, watching from the sidelines as it opened with a 3-0 win over Al-Fateh.<\/p>\n
\u201cCristiano is here today, and he is always present with us,\u201d Al-Nassr coach Ange Postecoglou said after the game.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo could play against Al-Diriyah in the King\u2019s Cup on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing now is recovery, especially as we have only two days after this match,\u201d former Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest coach Postecoglou said. <\/p>\n
Ronaldo\u2019s comments came days after long-time rival Lionel Messi revealed that, following his father\u2019s death, he may soon retire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how to carry on,\u201d Messi, 39, said. \u201cI used to just play football, and now I\u2019m really not sure if I\u2019ll carry on doing it for much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
__<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full soccer coverage here <\/p>\n
Riyadh, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIYADH (AP) \u2014 Cristiano Ronaldo says this Saudi Pro League season is likely to be the last of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-861386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861386","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=861386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}