{"id":42856,"date":"2026-08-17T14:48:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42856"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:48:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:48:04","slug":"ronaldo-hints-at-retirement-citing-upcoming-year-could-be-his-last","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ronaldo-hints-at-retirement-citing-upcoming-year-could-be-his-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo hints at retirement, citing upcoming year could be his last"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Cristiano Ronaldo has fuelled speculation about his retirement plans after saying the upcoming year will probably be the \u200blast of his playing career.<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The 41-year-old Portugal captain is \u200cone of the most decorated players of all time, winning major trophies with Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and his current club Al-Nassr \u200bsince making his senior debut for Sporting in 2002.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Ronaldo, \u200ba five-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner, was unable to \u2060add a World Cup title to his list of honours \u200bafter Portugal fell short at this year\u2019s tournament, leaving the \u200bsport\u2019s biggest prize absent from his trophy cabinet.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThis is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,\u201d \u200bRonaldo told lifestyle magazine <i>Vogue<\/i> in an interview published \u200bon Sunday.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The forward has scored 976 goals for club and country during \u200ca \u2060career spanning more than two decades.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI have so many things to keep me busy that to tell you just one thing is hard. Because football could leave a big hole, \u200byou have to \u200bfill your \u2060time in various ways, not just one,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cAnd also have more fun, travel more, \u200bwatch and play padel, which I really like, \u200band \u2060continue to enjoy what I\u2019ve earned what we\u2019ve earned. Because after all it\u2019s been 25 years with a lot of sacrifice.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Ronaldo will \u2060continue \u200bplaying for Saudi Pro League club \u200bAl-Nassr this season as he closes in on the milestone of 1 000 career \u200bgoals.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16203,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-42856","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ronaldo will \u2060continue \u200bplaying for Saudi Pro League club \u200bAl-Nassr this season.","published_date":"","news_description":"Ronaldo will \u2060continue \u200bplaying for Saudi Pro League club \u200bAl-Nassr this season.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42857,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42856\/revisions\/42857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}