Cristiano Ronaldo announced his intention to retire from the Portugal national team on Thursday in a social media post, bringing to an end one of the most illustrious international careers in the history of football.The 41-year-old said he would 'hand back the number 7 shirt' after the November international break.Ronaldo captained the team to their first major trophy at Euro 2016 and helped them win the 2019 and 2025 Nations Leagues.
Cristiano Ronaldo's international retirement message:
To the Portuguese people, the day has come when I return the number 7 shirt to all of our national team. I never felt that it belonged to me alone, but for 23 years I had the honour and responsibility of wearing it, defending it and taking it with me to pitches all over the world.
Today the moment has come to hand the banner over to the future. It was not an easy decision, for there are decisions not made by the mind alone, but in which the heart also takes part.
I am ending a journey that began in August 2003 and changed my life forever. When I look back and remember everything I lived through with the national team, I do not see only matches, goals, records and trophies, but I see people. I see immigrants who felt that Portugal became closer to them during 90 minutes, and I see millions of Portuguese whom I never met in person, but who were part of my life. In the end, football is far greater than just a game, it is the people.
Throughout my career with the national team, I sought to push beyond my limits. I wanted to win, to be the best, and to make history. I was always strict with myself, aspiring for more, believing in our ability to go as far as possible, and I gave everything I had for this shirt.
We lived perfect evenings and nights, and achieved victories I will never forget, just as we suffered defeats whose memory still pains me to this day. I failed at times, I suffered, and I went through moments in which I was unable to give the Portuguese what they so deeply wished for, but I never gave up, and most importantly I never lost my sense of pride in representing Portugal.
Over these years I learned very simple things. Goals pass, trophies remain in museums, and records find someone to break them, but there is something time can never erase, and that is the place we occupy in people's hearts. If I ever made you happy, or made you embrace someone after one of my goals, or forget a difficult moment, or feel proud of our country, then everything I did was worth the effort. Because being Portuguese also means that. We suffer together, we rise together, and we believe anew.
Portugal will always need young people who dream, players who do not give up, and new generations who believe in the possibility of reaching places no one has reached before. For the country that continues to create its new heroes is a country that never stops believing in itself.
To my team-mates in the national team, I would like to say a special word. Thank you for every run, every embrace, every discussion, every moment of silence before entering the pitch, for every victory we celebrated together, and every defeat that made us stronger. It was an honour for me to be your captain, but no captain walks alone, and you are part of my story.
To all the coaches, officials, doctors, physiotherapists, kit staff and everyone who worked with me over these years, thank you. Many of you did not appear in the photos, but without you none of those photos would have been possible.
To my family, thank you for sharing this dream with me, and for understanding the periods of absence, the sacrifices, and the moments in which the national team had to take up a space in your lives too. If I reached this far, it is because we were always one hand.
And to the Portuguese, and all the sons of Portugal spread across the world, I would like to tell you one last thing. There is an image I will always carry with me, and it is the moment the national anthem is played. I look around and see my team-mates, the stands, the children, the mothers, the fathers and the grandparents, and I see Portuguese who travelled long distances just to be there. And during those minutes, we stop being different. There are no clubs, no colours, no social classes, no professions and no opinions, but only one passion: Portugal.
This feeling I will carry with me throughout my life. Today my journey on the pitch with the national team ends. I leave with my head held high, proud of the path I took, and aware that I gave everything I had for Portugal. But I will never stop being one of you, and I will continue to suffer, rejoice and celebrate every victory for Portugal from the depths of my heart.
I spent my life working to become the best player in the world, but today I realise that the greatest victory was to deserve to represent the best country in the world.
Thank you for these 23 years, and thank you for believing in me, and for giving me the chance to live a dream that began when I was just a child on the island of Madeira, running after the ball.
The number 7 shirt will remain, and my pride in wearing it will stay mine forever. Portugal will always remain inside me.
Until we meet again, always. Cristiano Ronaldo.
