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‘Probably my last year’: Cristiano Ronaldo opens up on retirement plans, vows to leave ‘spectacular legacy’
Cristiano Ronaldo suggests the 2026-27 season may mark his retirement, expressing a desire to leave a significant legacy.
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.
Ronaldo already planning life after football
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.
