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The story
Portugal national team forward Cristiano Ronaldo (41) announced his retirement from international football via social media on November 5. This brings to a close a 23-year international career spanning 234 caps and 146 goals, during which he long wore the number 7 jersey. Messi also retired from the Argentina national team about a month ago, and on the forum, some lamented that “an era has ended,” while others pointed to his recent World Cup struggles, substitutions, and reported friction with the national team coach to argue “the retirement came too late” or “he caused the team trouble” — reactions split between respect for his achievements and dissatisfaction with his final years.
Sports Nippon
[ November 5, 2026, 19:58 ]
Portugal national team forward Cristiano Ronaldo (41) updated his social media on the 5th, announcing his retirement from the national team.
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
This guy barely did anything at the World Cup though
That was right around when he went to Saudi Arabia.
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2103338906565353474/vid/avc1/1920×1074/b_djakBJnHhq5xpv.mp4
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2099920486427688960/vid/avc1/576×1024/Bhh4J5t43jc–aeP.mp4
would end up just standing around like a statue.
Guess it's Mbappé and Haaland next.
Kane's already an old man at this point.
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2105050036392566784/vid/avc1/720×960/_xKv5fGT5sFYuG8r.mp4
That was honestly kind of sad to watch lol
Thanks for everything.
Like with Balogun, did he never even serve that one-match suspension he had a year's grace period on?
Come wave the towel for us again sometime.
And then he dragged it out, going back and forth with the coach over whether he'd quit — that was pretty lame lol
Athletes do brutal training every single day for decades.
The level of motivation it takes for a genius to stay at the absolute top through all that just isn't something an ordinary person can understand.
Well, they did fluke out and win that one Euros,
though he was basically playing assistant manager on the sideline during the final lol
If they actually won it in the end, doesn't seem so bad though
When Messi announced his international retirement,
Ronaldo showed up in the comments on Messi's Instagram.
Having seen Messi off, his own turn has finally come.
I used to watch religiously, but now I just think it was a waste of time.
50 years from now, those two are probably who people will still be talking about.
You mean the Brazilian Ronaldo, right?
https://gzo.ai/i/949CZvC.jpg
And of all people, the guy standing next to him is Watabe, the cheating-scandal guy
"The journey that changed my life forever"
So basically, it changed his LIFE forever, huh
So basically the Portuguese federation sided with the coach.
They probably win more without Ronaldo anyway.
https://up.gc-img.net/post_img/2026/11/5oplduMJCzj6Vis_SCLH2_8.jpeg
Leão ended up fading away too lol
Actually Félix has been in incredible form for the national team since Ronaldo left
Félix and Gonçalo Ramos led them to 3 straight wins — Norway twice and Denmark — and Félix has 3 goals and 1 assist in his last 4 caps, while Ramos is on a 3-game scoring streak. Both are red hot right now.
Background and key points of this story
Cristiano Ronaldo holds Portugal’s all-time records for caps and goals, and was the key figure behind their UEFA Euro 2016 title. This retirement announcement concerns only his international career, not his club career, and comes against the backdrop of his age (41), underwhelming World Cup performances, and a string of in-game substitutions. On the forum, many framed this as the close of the “Messi-Ronaldo era,” coming about a month after Messi’s own retirement from the Argentina national team — though plenty of harsher comments pointed to his late-career struggles and reported friction with the national team coach to call the retirement “too late” or say he “caused trouble for the team,” splitting opinion between respect for his accomplishments and frustration with how his final years played out. Note that claims he was effectively “fired” are speculation — nothing in the quoted article confirms the federation formally dismissed him.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Portugal] Cristiano Ronaldo announces retirement from Portugal national team, “Time to hand back the number 7” — 234 caps, 146 goals over 23 years.”
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