Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a possible suspension after walking out of the Portugal camp, but has ruled out retiring from international football just yet.
The 41-year-old left the squad during the September international break after being named as an unused substitute against Norway. Portugal went on to beat Denmark 4-2 without their captain. Ronaldo has since said he’ll be available again once any ban is served, as long as he’s fit and scoring for Al-Nassr.
That leaves the door open for a return, even if Portugal’s Nations League clash with Denmark on 14 November may come too soon. The former Real Madrid man has also promised fans “one or more farewell matches” before he finally calls time on his Selecao career.
Whenever that day comes, he’ll leave as the all-time leading goalscorer in men’s international football, with 146 goals in 234 caps at the time of writing.
Unlike Lionel Messi, who had to wait until 2021 for his first senior title with Argentina, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner won silverware with his country at his peak. He captained his nation to Euro 2016 glory, before adding Nations League titles in 2019 and 2025.
So, with Messi bowing out for Argentina this week, it’s time to look back at Ronaldo’s Portugal career in numbers.
Appearances, goals and assists
| Competition | Apps | Goals | Assists | Total G/A | G/A per Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Cup | 27 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 0.48 |
| European Championship | 30 | 14 | 8 | 22 | 0.73 |
| World Cup Qualifiers | 52 | 41 | 14 | 55 | 1.06 |
| Euro Qualifiers | 44 | 41 | 6 | 47 | 1.07 |
| Nations League | 21 | 15 | 3 | 18 | 0.86 |
| Confederations Cup | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0.75 |
| International Friendlies | 56 | 22 | 12 | 34 | 0.61 |
| Total | 234 | 146 | 46 | 192 | 0.82 |
Ronaldo has scored a remarkable 146 goals in 234 caps for Portugal, which makes him the all-time leader on both counts in men’s international football. His great rival Lionel Messi is second on both lists, having marked his Argentina farewell with 126 goals in 208 caps.
The pair are two of only three men to reach a century of international goals, with Iran’s Ali Daei (108) the other. Ronaldo was also the first man to reach 200 caps, marking the milestone with the winner against Iceland in a Euro 2024 qualifier in June 2023.
For Portugal, nobody comes close. Pauleta is Portugal’s second-highest goalscorer with 47 goals in 88 caps, but the Al-Nassr forward overtook him back in March 2014 and has since scored almost 100 more. He has the better strike rate as well, at 0.62 goals per cap compared to Pauleta’s 0.53. The figures are frankly eye-watering.
Ronaldo has scored 10 hat-tricks for his country, with two four-goal hauls against Andorra in 2016 and Lithuania in 2019 among them. His first came against Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in September 2013. The most recent was a 5-0 win over Luxembourg in October 2021, and Luxembourg are also the side he has scored against more than any, with 11 goals. He’s joint second on the list for international hat-tricks behind Messi, who scored his 11 at the 2026 World Cup.
Competitive Stats
What really sets Ronaldo apart is his record in competitive football. 124 of his 146 goals have come in competitive matches, which works out at 84.9% and 0.70 goals per competitive cap. That’s well ahead of Messi’s 56.8% and 0.49.
The 41-year-old also holds the scoring record at the European Championship, with 14 goals scored in a record 30 appearances. He’s the only man to score at five different Euros, and his three goals at this summer’s tournament made him the first to score at six World Cups. His tally of 41 goals in World Cup qualifying is also a record.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s EURO 2016 shot map
Ronaldo’s most productive year for Portugal was 2019, when he scored 14 goals in just 10 caps. That year included a hat-trick against Switzerland in the Nations League semi-final, before the Selecao beat the Netherlands in the final to become the first champions of that competition.
Although his creative abilities have been sidelined as he has increasingly taken up more of a central goalscoring role as his career has progressed, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid man has still chipped in with 46 international assists. That gives him 192 goal involvements for his country, which is just one shy of Messi’s 193.
His eight European Championship assists are a joint tournament record, level with Czech great Karel Poborsky.
International titles
| Competition | Year won | Opponent in final | Final score |
|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA European Championships | 2016 | France | 1-0 |
| UEFA Nations League | 2019 | Netherlands | 1-0 |
| UEFA Nations League | 2025 | Colombia | 2-2 (5-3 on penalties) |
Ronaldo’s first major international tournament ended in heartbreak, as hosts Portugal were beaten 1-0 by Greece in the Euro 2004 final in Lisbon when he was just 19.
He made up for it 12 years later. Although the Portugal captain was forced off injured early in the Euro 2016 final against France in Paris, he spent the rest of the game urging on his team-mates from the touchline as Eder’s extra-time winner sealed a 1-0 victory. It’s still their only major tournament title.
More silverware followed in the Nations League though. Portugal beat the Netherlands 1-0 in the 2019 final on home soil in Porto, and Ronaldo was on target in the 2025 final, scoring the equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Spain before Portugal won 5-3 on penalties.
In total, Ronaldo has played in four senior finals, winning three and losing one, and he was part of all three of Portugal’s title-winning sides. This summer’s World Cup ended on a sour note, though, with neighbours Spain knocking the Selecao out in the last 16.
Discipline
| Competition | Apps | Yellow cards | Red cards | Cards per match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Cup | 27 | 4 | 0 | 0.15 |
| European Championship | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0.13 |
| World Cup Qualifiers | 52 | 9 | 1 | 0.19 |
| Euro Qualifiers | 44 | 7 | 0 | 0.16 |
| Nations League | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0.14 |
| Confederations Cup | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| International Friendlies | 56 | 5 | 0 | 0.09 |
| Total | 234 | 32 | 1 | 0.14 |
Ronaldo’s disciplinary record for Portugal is solid rather than spotless.
He’s been shown 32 yellow cards in 234 caps, 27 of them in competitive matches. World Cup qualifying is where he’s seen yellow most often, with nine bookings in 52 appearances.
Remarkably, it took the 41-year-old more than 22 years to receive his first red card for his country. It came in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in November 2025, when he was sent off for an elbow on Dara O’Shea.
That’s still the only red of his Portugal career, but his walkout from the camp means he could now be facing another spell on the sidelines.