New Delhi: Ever since a teenaged Pele had the world swaying to his rhythm at the 1958 football World Cup, anticipation has always been built around the famous No.10s headed to the tournament. Never a conformist, it is to Cristiano Ronaldo’s credit that No.7 too is given that exalted status in the game.
The Portuguese megastar and skipper is set to become, with Argentina talisman Lionel Messi, the first to feature in six World Cups when one of the major forces in the 48-team competition begin their campaign. Ronaldo’s excellence has been measured mostly with the club although he has enjoyed great moments with country ever since he made his international debut in 2003 as a teenager wearing the modest No.17 shirt.
Since acquiring the No.7, worn by Portugal skipper Luis Figo till his retirement in 2006, with country and clubs – Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus as well as the December 2022 transfer which pitch-forked the Saudi Pro League into the ‘big league’ – Ronaldo has positioned himself at the apex of global sports branding, as a model athlete as well as a football story that has kept on giving.
First the longevity. Ronaldo’s selection to a Portugal team oozing with talent at the age of 41 has its fans and sceptics. But Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez has no doubt that, despite age having withered some of his amazing football skills, Ronaldo is vital for a team the Spaniard wants to turn from “contenders” to “favourites” with their first World Cup win. Martinez sees Ronaldo’s leadership vital in the dressing room, and his ability to help win those little moments and psychological battles needed to go all the way.
It takes a very special player and a physical specimen to be even counted as the spearhead of an attack in his fifth decade. Ronaldo is part of a small group at the World Cup: Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is 40, Croatia’s Luka Modric and Bosnia’s Edin Dzeko are both 40, and Scotland’s Craig Gordon is 43.
Ronaldo has the most international caps (226) and goals (143). He has scored in each of his previous five World Cups, a statistic where he is ahead of his rival Messi (of course, the Argentine maestro has 13 goals to Ronaldo’s eight, and the small matter of two Cup finals and a winner’s trophy!). The biggest factor in his longevity story is how he has devoted himself to maintaining astonishing levels of fitness to even remain in the global conversations around the game and beyond.
Brand Ronaldo is no small factor in his featuring in a record sixth World Cup. In 2020, as per Forbes, he became the first active athlete in a team sport to surpass $1 billion in career earnings (Messi got there last week). And he has topped the list of the world’s highest paid athletes over the past one year, published last week. At $300m, he improved upon his own mark established in 2025 ($275m). Ronaldo has led the ranking in the last four years. He is also only one of three athletes to have a lifetime contract with Nike (Michael Jordan and LeBron James are the others), which is worth $1bn.
Ronaldo’s status as one of the game’s all-time greats is settled. Arguably the most influential player in each of his five Champions League titles, the first with Manchester United and the rest with Real Madrid, including three in a row under Zinedine Zidane, makes him a legend. But critics question his place when it comes to his World Cup record.
He doesn’t have a goal in the knockouts. Portugal, on a 21-year-old Ronaldo’s debut in the 2026 World Cup, reached the semi-finals, their first since Eusebio’s team finished third in 1966. Ronaldo’s brightest World Cup game came in 2018 when he scored a hat-trick, the last a sensational free-kick, to hold Spain to a 3-3 draw in the group stage.
He was the inspiration in Portugal’s 2016 Euro triumph, and they also have two Nations League titles, in 2019 and 2025. The World Cup is no longer about the individual dazzle of Messi or Ronaldo, but the former is a champion and this is the last chance for the Portuguese.
For that, Martinez must find the best way to utilise his captain. Portugal have arguably the most balanced side ever fielded in their World Cup history. A midfield of Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Vitinha; a defence that has Nuno Mendes, arguably the world’s best left back, and is led by Ruben Dias will need the finishing power to go with it.
“Let’s do what’s never been done before,” declared Martinez after announcing the 27-player Portugal squad. Portugal football website, portugoal.net though said: “At 41, he is still the symbolic centre of Portuguese football and one of the defining figures of the modern game.” It added: “Ronaldo, then, is both strength and complication.”
In Ronaldo, Martinez sees the global icon as well as the one who meets the high standards as his teammates. It is not in his nature to be a footnote in a tournament, but Ronaldo seems to be in a calmer place than a personally disastrous 2022 Qatar where he even claimed to have headed a goal without getting a touch.
The 2026 games will be split into four quarters. One is sure the advertisements will include a few featuring Ronaldo. On the pitch, he will hope to bring some of his vintage intensity. That will help relive his own declaration at the 2017 Ballon d’Or ceremony that he felt he was the greatest footballer ever.
