Ronaldo says World Cup 2026 will be his last | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to find out more about a major. story and big news for football fans. The Portuguese superstar Cristiano. Ronaldo says next year's World Cup will. be his last and it's likely that he'll. retire from football altogether in the. next year or two. Well, with me to. discuss this is George Ado, BBC World. Service football reporter, and Mimi. Swaybe, global affairs reporter. Uh and. let me start with George. Ronaldo's.

career has been phenomenal, but he is. acknowledging that he is nearing the end. of the road. >> Yeah, surely. Um I think it's just uh. one that we as football fans and maybe. football corners were definitely looking. out for. It was very close to that. He's. 40 years at the moment. Uh surely at the. next World Cup, he'll be 41. And if he. has any plans for, you know, the World. Cup after the next year, that's probably. 45. So it just looked like definitely he. was getting to the end of the his.

career. Um you look at what his. contributions have been on the pitch. He's not as fast as he used to be before. because at the age of uh 40 there's a. very very little that you can do. But of. course he's been trying his best in. scoring the goals as much as he can. And. it's also about giving himself maybe the. final chance to see if he can win the. trophy that um he's not been able to win. which happens to be the World Cup. When. you look at the statistics uh at. al-Naser in Saudi Arabia, you clearly.

see that he has he's on the end of. scoring goals, doing more up front, but. in terms of how he helps the team, all. of that has come down. It's good to see. him still running around and uh playing. football, but surely this was something. that we have been expecting and not too. surprised it's finally come out from. him. >> Do you think he's aiming for a thousand. career goals? Yeah, clearly one of those things that. we're looking at because you look at the. career itself. um starting from Manchester United uh. out to Real Madrid, moving to Juventus,

back to Manchester United and back to, you know, uh Saudi Arabia where he's. been scoring a lot of goals, 83 goals in. 85, you know, appearances in the Saudi. Pro League alone. When you look at his. tally, his goal tally for club and. country, that's 950 goals. And he keeps. going. Uh that thousand mark is a very. very special landmark. And we know that. Cristiano Ronaldo has hinted in places. that it's something that he's probably.

looking at. People who are very close to. the circle know that it's something that. he's looking at whether he'll be able to. make it or not. He's giving himself the. opportunity to do that. And that's why. he keeps going on and on. He he had. actually renewed his contract with. Arnaser all the way to 2027. And you're. looking at just how many goals can he. score? Can he get those 50 goals between. now and when he decides to finally. retire? I I I surely think that he's he. has that in his sights if he's able to. uh you know get to thousand goals. He'll. be really really excited and would like.

to bow on such a good note. >> Absolutely. And Mimi, what's the. reaction been to this announcement? >> Similar to what George was saying, there's been sadness from many fans. He's played across four clubs now. So. many clubs really see him as one of. football's greats, but one of their own. as well. And they've come out, the fans. on social media saying they're really. sad to see his kind of career start to. slow down. And again, what George was. hinting to, but it hasn't come at a. surprise. questions about retirement.

have been increasing over recent years. and perhaps the way he's kind of dealt. with the questions and in the. circumstance maybe people weren't. expecting for him to announce a tourism. forum in Saudi Arabia about this really. big career moment maybe that was going. to come in the form of an on pitch talk. for many that's what kind of they viewed. this announcement to be like so maybe. the shock of how it came about as well. fans are kind of deliberating over and. chatting about but many happy moments. are being remembered and shared head and. goals and things like that. But yeah,

mainly happy but with a tinge of sadness. as well. >> because Cristiano Ronaldo is about a lot. more than football. He's the most. followed person on Instagram and his. wife even has a Netflix show. >> Yes. And I am actually a big fan of that. Netflix show. Uh so Georgina I am. Georgina had three seasons on Netflix. and was a huge success. She was the. executive producer as well which went. down a storm with supporters and the. idea was to open up the life their. couple's the couple's life but the life.

of Cristiano Ronaldo this kind of. superstar in football but give a kind of. insight into his personal life as well. and it has done really well. So it's. kind of gone down as being the top um. one of the top shows in more than 45. countries it appeared in on Netflix and. that's just one aspect. So that is you. know the kind of pop culture following. for so Georgina his now engage in fiance. but also as a footballer he's got deals. on and off the pitch. He has a you know.

very successful modeling career. He has. many things going for him. In Forbes. recently they said that on and off the. pitch his field earnings will be around. $280 million and that is more than. double of his second place rival Messi. for this upcoming season alone. And so. it gives you an idea of kind of the. personality he is both on the football. field but off it as well. And you know. that's probably why he's become such a. global icon as well. >> And he was named last month as.

football's first billionaire. George, next year's World Cup is going to be. hosted by three nations. The US, Canada, and Mexico. Mexico. That's the first. time that's been done. >> Yeah, surely. And that's a very uh. complicated world cup if you ask me. because you've got three countries and. if you look at the distances between the. cities, it will be uh a lot for fans who. want to go and watch it is going to be. very expensive. That's for sure. And. again, in terms of if you're trying to. compare what we saw in Kata uh the last.

World Cup in 2022 where everything was. centered, this is going to be very very. very different. And we're moving up from. 32 teams before to 48 teams. We are. moving up from 64 matches to 104 matches. and we're talking a World Cup that's. probably going to last about 39 days. So. there is so much in there. Uh well, we. used to have uh four groups of eight. We're talking four groups of 12 and you. know uh the top two are going to qualify.

plus eight others who finish as best uh. third runners up and uh then we're going. to have a round of 32 for a round of 16. So everything about this World Cup is. really really really different. It. sounds very uh uh complicated and we're. going to see how it actually plays out. but it's a huge jump from what we saw in. Qatar where everything was centered and. now it's going to be very very. interesting. Still fans are going to. have their own bits in terms of what. they have to do. Um the players will. have to be even more concentrated. because some players do well when they. play just oneoff games and others don't. do well in the camping situation. Now.

you're probably going to be camping. about 39 days or staying in in a place. and keep moving around. So it's going to. be very very very interesting. Plus you. know the the the little things about how. FIFA and perhaps the US are going to. deal with um you know uh visas for a lot. of football fans who are going to be. coming around. It's FIFA's duty to make. sure that people who love football can. watch but equally it's the US uh USA. their duty as well to make sure that. those who come to their country come. there for the right reasons and do what. they have to do according to their.

immigration rules. So we'll see how that. marry uh to be able to have a very good. tournament uh at of course in in the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026. >> because some people are concerned about. the political climate right now under. President Trump. So we'll wait to see. what happens with those football fans. who go to the US. But Mimi, there are. also concerns in Mexico about whether it. will be ready in time and the Mexican. president was trying to reassure people. about those concerns. >> That's right. Only on Monday, Cla. Shinbam promised that the.

infrastructure, many infrastructure. projects for this world cup will be. delivered on time. Now, Mexico is going. to host about 13 matches, five in Mexico. City, and then the eight other matches. will be shared out in between Mterrey, a. northern city, and Guadalajara, a. western city. However, there has been. controversy from start to finish with. Mexico. A lot of new projects means a. lot of new money. And this money is. being thrown at projects including. renovations for the Aztec Stadium, which.

is the largest in Latin America, trying. to get it up to kind of speed for this. global global event. That has also. brought alongside it um concerns that. this money shouldn't be spent on. stadiums. It should be spent on. hospitals, infrastructure that helps. civilians, Mexicans firsthand. And we've. seen that there are around like 200,000. people who kind of live in the shadows. of the Aztec stadium and they it's. feared are going to be kind of the first.

people to feel the negative effects of. this World Cup. There are already. concerns about water shortages and other. issues with kind of infrastructure and. building works happening. So there's. concerns about resources, money, but. also the idea that Mexico has many other. issues it's trying to deal with right. now. There's drug trafficking issues, crime, he femicide. There's a whole host. of issues and many people are wondering. why are we spending money on a beautiful. thing but not necessary for the country. right now where many people are just.

trying to live safely in their homes. Claudia Sharon bomb however has gone. against this and said this is a really. special moment where we get to share who. we are as Mexicans with the world. And. so she's viewing it as a really positive. thing. She said that it's a special time. which will have significant economic. impact and she's promised that it will. all be ready in a few months time ready. to welcome in thousands and thousands of. football fans and footballers alike and. George given Ronaldo's dedication to the. beautiful game how difficult will it be.

for him to retire? Yeah, that's that's. that's a brilliant question because he. loves football deeply and Ronaldo is. very passionate about football and his. achievements just speak for him. 143. goals in 225 appearances for Portugal. Um clearly leading when it comes to uh. the number of goals scored in. international and international space. Um he's won the ballor five times. He's. been FIFA best player three times. Uh. he's on 950 goals. He's won the.

Champions League five times. He's won. the Euros with Portugal. He won the UEFA. Nations League as well. But Portugal, what can you say? He's he's won trophies. in in England, in Spain, in Italy. The. only blemish sometime is in Saudi. Arabia. He's struggling to win the. King's Cup, which he has tried three. times and has not been able to win. He. won the Arab Golf Cup. That that is not. really recognized by FIFA. The only. thing left for him now is can he win the. World Cup? And I'm sure that is kindly. playing on his mind. Um it's going to be.

from where I see it's going to very. difficult for Portugal to do that. But. you never want to rule them out, especially if you think about how they. won the Euro in 2016. So this is. probably one of the things that he'll be. hoping to do. Can he get a,000 goals. before he retires? Can he win the World. Cup? And can he live the game? I think. it's going to be really difficult for. him to leave the game. But definitely. after the age of 41, at the end of the. 2026 World Cup, that will become. extremely tough and I don't I don't see. him, you know, at the at the World Cup. after 2026 because he'll be then 45. So.

surely it it will come to an end. But. I'm sure he's hoping that in the final. moments last year or last year and a. half, he'll be hoping to get all these. things done, but it will be one big big. big big uh goodbye to football. And uh I. don't know how he's going to do it. >> And a big loss to football too, George. Thank you. Thank you there, George Ado. and Mimi Sway. Thank you also. And you. can also hear more of that interview on. the Global News podcast. Listen wherever. you download your podcasts. And if you. like this episode, please subscribe to.

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