Cristiano Ronaldo picked a fashion magazine, not a sports outlet, to say the end is close.
In a cover interview with Vogue’s Gaby Wood published on Sunday, the Portugal forward laid out how close he thinks the finish line is.
“This is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,” he told the magazine.
The piece reached readers five days after his private wedding to Georgina Rodríguez in Cascais.
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A future already mapped
Ronaldo told the magazine he has planned what comes after the boots come off.
“I have my future all mapped out. I have so many things to keep me busy that to tell you just one thing is hard. Because football could leave a big hole, you have to fill your time in various ways, not just one.”
The list he offered leaned domestic rather than commercial: padel, travel, family. He talked about the racket sport that has swept across Spain and Portugal, and framed the next chapter as time reclaimed from a run he calls a long sacrifice.
“And also have more fun, travel more, watch and play padel, which I really like, and continue to enjoy what I’ve earned, what we’ve earned. Because after all it’s been 25 years with a lot of sacrifice.”
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Cascais wedding, then a Vogue cover
The couple married in Cascais on 11 August, a civil ceremony held at their home with only their five children present. They confirmed the wedding on Instagram with a photograph of their hands and rings, captioned simply “C” and “G.” The date marked exactly 10 years since the couple first met at a Gucci store in Madrid.
Contract runs to 2027
Ronaldo’s contract at Al-Nassr, extended in June 2025, runs through the 2026-27 Saudi Pro League season. He joined the club in January 2023 after leaving Manchester United, and the renewal reportedly carried an annual salary in the region of €200m, along with a signing bonus.
If his own timeline holds, the season that follows is the last of a professional career that began in 2002.
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