Cristiano Ronaldo has done what Cristiano Ronaldo does best: made everything about him, and somehow made it work. During an appearance at the Tourise Summit in Riyadh on November 11, 2025, the Portuguese forward confirmed that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be his final major international tournament. He also became the first player in football history to score in six different World Cup editions.

The man will be 41 years old when the tournament kicks off across the United States, Canada, and Mexico next summer.

Six World Cups, one record book

Ronaldo has now scored in World Cup tournaments spanning 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026. No other player in the history of the sport has managed that feat across six editions.

He noted during his Riyadh remarks that he plans to continue playing at the club level for “one or two years” beyond the World Cup before considering full retirement. So this isn’t quite the final curtain call for his overall career, but it is the last time he’ll represent Portugal on the biggest stage in football.

Why crypto cares about a football retirement

His partnership with Binance, which has produced multiple NFT collections including CR7, ForeverZone, and ForeverSkills, has positioned him as one of the most prominent athlete ambassadors in crypto. These collections have functioned as both brand extensions and fan engagement tools, offering holders unique experiences tied to Ronaldo’s career milestones.

Portugal’s official fan token, $POR, which launched back in 2021, has seen increased trading volume during the World Cup. No new tokens were introduced specifically in response to the retirement announcement. But existing assets linked to Ronaldo’s brand and Portugal’s national team have attracted speculative interest.

The broader sports-crypto intersection

Fan tokens give holders voting rights on minor team decisions and access to exclusive content. Trading activity for football fan tokens surges during World Cup cycles, driven by speculative behavior tied to match results, player performances, and retirement announcements.

The NFT side of the equation is more nuanced. Ronaldo’s Binance collections have maintained relevance partly because they’re tied to an active, performing athlete rather than a retired one. Once Ronaldo steps away from international football, the question becomes whether those digital collectibles retain their engagement value or become purely historical artifacts.