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September 18, 2026
Ronaldo is entering the final chapter of a record-breaking career, with 1,000 goals now within reach. As the 41-year-old approaches retirement, his last season with Al Nassr offers one final chance to add to a legacy built across more than two decades at the top...
Twenty years. Different shirts – Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr – same result every time: he scores, people watch, and the story somehow refuses to get old. That's the short version of Cristiano Ronaldo's career, if you had to sum it up in one sentence. It's winding down now, though. In August 2026 he said this would "probably" be his last season as a pro. And he made a point of saying he wants to leave with something to show for it. The number everyone's circling is 1,000.
🚨🚨| 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃: Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the FIRST footballer in history to score in 25 consecutive seasons. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/HFNdylgtfi
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) August 21, 2026
He's close. Really close. In September 2026 he scored his 979th senior goal for club and country, in Al Nassr's 2-1 win over Abha. Twenty-one left.
Sounds like just a stat until you sit with it for a second – barely anyone gets near that number, and Ronaldo's been building toward it since his senior Portugal debut in 2003. His last World Cup appearance came the same year, after Portugal went out to Spain in the Round of 16.
FIFA's confirmed he won't be back for another one. So that door's shut. Which, oddly enough, makes every remaining Al Nassr fixture matter a bit more for anyone counting down the last 21.
Most strikers this age have already faded – fewer minutes, smaller clubs, quieter headlines. Not him. He's still the name everyone mentions first when Al Nassr play, and even the Saudi Pro League's own site keeps framing him around the goal chase, not as some ageing signing they're managing out.
None of that stays confined to 90 minutes, either. Follow his stats one week, and you'll probably bump into his sponsorship deals or fitness content the next – the CR7 name has leaked into fashion, gaming, entertainment, all of it, in a way most athletes' brands never manage. Curious what that overlap actually looks like in practice? Some fans exploring tamasha instant games play will recognize the pattern: football themes folded into fast, arcade-style formats built for exactly this kind of crossover audience. Small example. But it says something about how far one player's name travels once the goals keep piling up.
That's really the shift here. He's not fighting for Ballons d'Or or Champions League trophies anymore, the way he was at Real Madrid. The question now is simpler: how much more can he add before he actually walks away.
Six World Cups, 2006 to 2026. He scored at every single one – nobody else has done that. Portugal's exit to Spain in July 2026 closed the book for good.
Teenager at his first tournament. Forty-one at his last. Not many careers stretch that far in either direction – and if you ask me, that streak of scoring at six straight World Cups might actually be harder to repeat than the 1,000-goal number everyone's fixated on.
He's already hinted retirement won't be quiet. Interests outside the game, some kind of plan already in motion – which tracks, honestly, for a guy who's spent years turning CR7 into something that doesn't need a club badge to survive.
Here's the catch, though: the closer he gets to 1,000, the more scrutiny lands on every quiet match or minor knock. That pressure rarely helps anyone play better. Still – 979 goals, one season left to close the gap – it's close enough now to be a real conversation, not just a headline written to get clicks.
• How many career goals does Cristiano Ronaldo have?
979, as of September 2026, after his goal in Al Nassr's 2-1 win over Abha.
• Will Cristiano Ronaldo reach 1,000 career goals?
He needs 21 more. Doable across a full Al Nassr and Saudi Pro League season — but nothing's guaranteed at 41.
• Is this Cristiano Ronaldo's last season?
He said in August 2026 it would "probably" be his final year as a professional.
• Why didn't Ronaldo play in another World Cup after 2026?
FIFA confirmed his appearance in Portugal's Round of 16 loss to Spain was his last at the tournament.
Goals will always be part of how people remember him. But they're not the whole story. Big clubs, major trophies, a Portugal captaincy that actually delivered silverware, two decades of staying relevant to a global audience that never quite gets bored – none of that fits neatly into a stat line.
Whether 1,000 lands before he retires or not, this last season is worth watching on its own terms. If Ronaldo's proven anything, it's that he can turn a single number into a story the whole footballing world follows along with. So don't wait for the punditry to tell you how it ends – keep an eye on Al Nassr's next few fixtures instead. That's where this actually gets decided.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Portugal is on September 24, against Wales, for the UEFA Nations League. You can watch Portugal vs Wales, AS Roma vs Inter, Sevilla vs Barcelona, Brentford vs Chelsea, Brighton vs Arsenal and Tottenham vs Aston Villa, all matches provided from our soccer live game pages.
Portugal next game:
Portugal vs Wales kick-off time (24-09-2026):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 03:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 00:30
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+4: 23:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+2: 21:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 16:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 15:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 12:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / thesun.co.uk / sports.yahoo.com
