Cristiano Ronaldo is going to his sixth World Cup. No player in history has ever done that. At 41, he's confirmed in Portugal's 2026 squad, and the record is now his alone — at least until Lionel Scaloni officially names Messi in Argentina's roster, at which point they'll share it, as they've shared almost everything else.
Ronaldo made his World Cup debut in 2006. He has not missed a single edition since. He arrives in North America this summer with 226 caps and 143 international goals — both all-time men's records — and will add to both before the tournament ends.
Portugal finally has the squad to match the moment
For most of Ronaldo's career, Portugal were a one-man operation at World Cups. Good enough to compete, rarely good enough to threaten. That's no longer the case.
This Portugal squad has an argument for the best midfield in the tournament — Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, and João Neves are a genuine force, not just a supporting cast built around a star. Nuno Mendes locks down the left. Ronaldo, at this point, is almost incidental to how good they actually are. That's a strange sentence to write, but it's true.
They're drawn in Group K alongside Colombia, Uzbekistan, and DR Congo — a group Portugal should win comfortably. The real question is what comes after. A quarterfinal matchup with Argentina is the projected path if both sides win their groups, which would be one of the more loaded knockout ties in recent World Cup memory. Portugal's odds of going deep look genuinely solid, but that specific fixture would be a brutal ask regardless of squad depth.
Messi and Ochoa are also making history
Ronaldo won't be the only one chasing a sixth appearance. Messi, 38, is expected to lead Argentina's title defense despite earlier public doubts about his participation. He's been fit and in form at Inter Miami, and Scaloni hasn't given any indication he'll leave his captain at home. Back-to-back World Cup wins would put Argentina in the company of Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962). The ante is high.
Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa also hits six this summer. The 40-year-old goalkeeper has already confirmed he'll retire after the tournament — a career that turned him into a cult figure across six cycles of World Cup football.
Ronaldo has 143 international goals and zero World Cup winners' medals. This is the last realistic chance to change that.
