Cristiano Ronaldo has outlined how long he may continue playing club football for after admitting the United States World Cup would be his final opportunity to win the competition
Cristiano Ronaldo’s career may finally be winding down. The Portugal legend has already admitted the World Cup in the United States will be his last and conceded he may have just a couple of years left in the game.
That leaves a little time for the 40-year-old Portugal international to make some final twists and turns before turning his attention to club ownership away from the field. For the moment, Ronaldo is keen to live in the moment, however.
Asked about his future in an interview on Tuesday, having told Piers Morgan Uncensored last week he would retire “soon”, Ronaldo initially joked that “soon” meant “in 10 years” before adding: “When I mean soon…. I’m really enjoying the moment right now. As you know in football, when you reach some age you count the months very quick.
“So, the moment is good, I feel very good in this moment, I score goals, I still feel quick and sharp, I’m enjoying my game in the national team and Al Nassr, but of course, let’s be honest, when I mean ‘soon’ it’s probably one, two years I’ll still be in the game.”
“As I told you before, I am enjoying the moment, but when I mean soon, it’s really soon because I give everything for football, I’m in the game for the last 25 years, I did everything, I have many records in the different scenarios in the clubs and also in the national team – I’m really proud,” he added.
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Ronaldo is under contract at Al-Nassr until after his 42nd birthday after signing a deal worth a minimum £492million over two years earlier in 2025. That would suggest the Saudi Pro League side would be his final team.
But can the five-time Ballon d’Or winner ignore his mother’s wish? Dolores Aveiro dreams of her son and grandson playing their trade in Portugal together before Ronaldo brings his career to a close.
In 2022, Aveiro declared her desire to see Ronaldo return to his first club, Sporting CP. The matriarch has even told him as much.
She told a Portuguese magazine: “Cristiano has to come back here. If it was up to me he’d be back already. “I already told him: ‘Son, before I die I want to see you playing for Sporting again.
“It didn’t happen this year but perhaps it will next year. But if it’s not him it will be Cristianinho. At his age he plays better than his father. When he was 12 Cristiano didn’t have a trainer but today he’s his son’s teacher.”
The 67-year-old told Nova Gente in an interview: “He’s already said, ‘Dad when we go to live in Lisbon I want to play for Sporting. Seeing the two of them playing together at the club would be my dream.”
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