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Thumbs up: Cristiano Ronaldo is set to make his sixth World Cup appearance.
Armando Franca/AP/dpa
This summer, Cristiano Ronaldo is heading to his sixth World Cup—his 12th major tournament overall. It’s likely to be his last. Find out which records he’ll break and what the superstar is hoping for.
The 2026 World Cup will be a tournament of firsts: for the first time, a World Cup will be held in three host countries, and for the first time, 48 teams will participate. At the same time, however, it also marks the end of an era: for some of the greatest soccer players of this generation, it will be their final appearance on the biggest stage in world soccer.
One of them is Cristiano Ronaldo. The 41-year-old is ready to give it another go and will travel to his sixth World Cup with Portugal. This makes him, along with his longtime rival Lionel Messi, the player with the most World Cup appearances of all time.
In total, this is actually his twelfth major tournament, as he has also participated in six European Championships. In his eleven tournaments with the Portuguese national team so far, Ronaldo has scored a total of 22 goals.
That said, CR7 has been significantly more successful at the European Championships. With 14 goals in 30 games, he is the all-time leading scorer in European Championship history. He also won the 2016 tournament in France with Portugal and reached the final in 2004.
By comparison, his eight World Cup goals seem almost meager. While Ronaldo is the only player in history to have scored in five World Cup finals tournaments, But apart from his four goals in Russia in 2018, he scored only one goal in each of the other tournaments. And the superstar has never scored in a World Cup knockout match.
The Portuguese national team’s recent World Cup campaigns have also been rather disappointing. Ronaldo and the “Seleção” have never advanced beyond the quarterfinals. In 2018 and 2010, their run ended in the round of 16, and in 2014, they were eliminated in the group stage.
This year, that’s set to change. The Portuguese are among the broader circle of favorites. And although Cristiano Ronaldo will no longer be the key player he once was—and may even have to settle for a role as a super sub—a World Cup title to cap off his career would be a fairy tale. And the final missing piece of the puzzle in his magnificent career.
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