Cristiano Ronaldo: World Cup history, goals, stats for Portugal icon

Regarded as one of football’s greatest-ever players, Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s most-capped player and the nation’s all-time leading goalscorer, always finding another level when representing his homeland.

Ronaldo has earned more than 220 caps since he made his international debut in 2003, scoring more than 140 goals. He helped Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016.

He also fired Portugal to victory at the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019 and won the Golden Boot at Euro 2021.

At the age of 41, Ronaldo is expected to become the first player to appear at six FIFA World Cup tournaments at the 2026 competition in the United States.

A glance back through his history at the World Cup shows he has thus far been unable to reach the pinnacle of international football, but hasn't been too far off.

MORE: Latest Cristiano Ronaldo news | Ronaldo holds men's record for most international goals ever 

Cristiano Ronaldo's club

Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Portugal.

Ronaldo was born in the city of Funchal on the island of Madeira, a tiny archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about 320 miles off the coast of Morocco. Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal, making Ronaldo eligible to represent the country by birth.

Since debuting in August of 2003 with a 45-minute appearance off the bench against Kazakhstan, Ronaldo has made over 225 appearances for his nation.

Ronaldo's World Cup?

Cristiano Ronaldo has never won a FIFA World Cup.

Throughout his career he has won an incredible number of team and individual honours, but he has yet to get his hands on the game’s most famous trophy — and his 2022 campaign ended in failure again.

Success with Portugal took 13 years to arrive for Ronaldo, who made his debut in a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan in August 2003 and went on to help his country to a first major tournament title when they triumphed at Euro 2016.

Ronaldo described Portugal’s Euro 2016 victory as “one of the happiest moments in my career” and “an amazing unique moment for all Portuguese”.

The ex-Manchester United forward has admitted that he expects Qatar to be his final World Cup, given that he’ll be 41 by the time the 2026 edition rolls around.

MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo holds record for most goals ever in professional football history

Ronaldo: World Cup final appearance?

Cristiano Ronaldo has played in a World Cup semifinal, but he has never reached the final itself.

At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where Ronaldo made his debut in the tournament, Portugal enjoyed a superb campaign, progressing through the group stage with three wins and then beating England to earn a semifinal against France.

Ronaldo scored the winning penalty in Portugal’s shoot-out victory over England to send the Selecao into the semifinals, where a Zinedine Zidane penalty was enough to earn France victory and end Portugal’s best run in the competition since 1966.

At the age of 21, Ronaldo had his whole career ahead of him and he would go on to win more honours than almost any other player in the game.

But World Cup glory has always escaped him.

MORE: Messi vs. Ronaldo at World Cup: Goals, stats, records

Ronaldo's World Cup record

Although he is Portugal’s most-capped player at the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo’s five tournaments have all ended in eventual disappointment. Here is a closer look at his accomplishments at football's most illustrious competition.

Ronaldo's World Cup matches

Cristiano Ronaldo has played in a total of 22 World Cup matches throughout his career.

The most he played in one competition was six, in his debut World Cup performance in 2006. The team reached the semifinals that year, falling to France by a 1-0 score before a subsequent 3-1 defeat to Germany in the third-place match.

He has reached the knockout stage in all but one World Cup showing, coming in 2014 when Portugal were eliminated in the groups stage behind Germany and the United States.

Ronaldo's World Cup titles

Of his 22 World Cup games played, Ronaldo has tasted victory in just 10 of them, which is slightly less than half.

Of the 12 remaining matches that Ronaldo failed to win, five ended in a draw while seven resulted in defeat.

Ronaldo WC goals

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored eight goals across his 22 World Cup matches played.

He has scored one World Cup hat-trick in his career, coming in a 3-3 draw with Spain in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Ronaldo's first-ever World Cup goal came against Iran in 2006, while he has also scored goals against North Korea, Ghana twice, and Morocco. Famously, all eight of his career World Cup goals have come in the group stage. Ronaldo has never scored a knockout stage goal at the FIFA World Cup across his eight appearances in such games.

Overall, outside of that one memorable day against Spain, his scoring record at the competition overall is quite poor. His tally of eight puts him behind Portugal legend Eusebio, who netted nine goals in just one tournament in 1966.

Ronaldo WC honors

Cristiano Ronaldo has never won an official FIFA World Cup award, failing to be handed the Golden Ball for best player at a single World Cup, and falling short of the famous World Cup Golden Boot given to the tournament's top scorer each edition.

However, he does have one notable World Cup record.

Ronaldo became the first player to score in five World Cups when he found the back of the net against Ghana in 2022. This is better than Lionel Messi, who has also played in five World Cup competitions but did not score in the 2010 edition when Argentina exited in the quarterfinals.

CR7's World Cup journey

World Cup 2006

Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in his first World Cup in 2006 at the age of 18, when he started and played 60 minutes in a 1-0 win over Angola to begin group stage play.

He would play the full 90 minutes in the following match against Iran, scoring his team's second goal in a 2-0 win, before being an unused substitute in the group finale against Mexico. With Portugal having won all its group games and finishing top of the table, they advanced to the knockout stage.

Ronaldo played 34 minutes off the bench in a 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the Round of 16 before seeing the full 120 minutes against England in the quarterfinals, which ended in a 0-0 draw. In the eventual penalty shootout, Ronaldo would be the fifth taker for Portugal, scoring to seal a 3-1 shootout win.

Portugal would advance to the semifinals on that win, but it would go sour from there. They would fall 1-0 to France and 3-1 to Germany, finishing fourth as Ronaldo played every minute in both games.

Soccer's 2010 World Cup

By the time the 2010 World Cup in South Africa rolled around, Cristiano Ronaldo was a fixture in the Portugal national team, playing every minute of every game. Portugal played extremely defensively, though, and he drew a blank in a pair of 0-0 group stage draws with Ivory coast and Brazil, only opening up in a 7-0 win over North Korea.

They would raw Spain in the Round of 16, where Portugal were again blanked in a 1-0 defeat.

2014 Mundial

After suffering through the playoff qualifying method to reach the 2014 World Cup, Portugal drew Germany, the United States, and Ghana in Brazil.

Ronaldo would suffer his worst-ever World Cup showing at this tournament, kept off the scoresheet in the first two games, although he picked up an assist in the 2-2 draw with the United States. Despite winning 2-1 in their final group game against Ghana, with Ronaldo scoring an 80th-minute winner, and the U.S. Losing 1-0 to Germany, Portugal were eliminated on goal differential.

Russia 2018 Cup

Hoping to make amends for four years earlier, Portugal qualified for the knockout stage at Russia 2018 on the back of Ronaldo's best individual World Cup performance to date.

Portugal would open the tournament with a thrilling 3-3 draw with Spain, as Ronaldo scored all three goals for his first and only World Cup hat-trick. He would again find the net in a 1-0 win over Morocco, before a frustrating 1-1 draw with Iran in the group finale saw Portugal qualify behind Spain on the goals scored tiebreaker.

That saw them draw Uruguay in the Round of 16, where Portugal would fall to a 2-1 defeat with Ronaldo blanked. Had they beaten Iran and won the group, they would have drawn hosts Russia who stunned Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Qatar 2022 World Cup

In Qatar, Portugal progressed the farthest they had into a World Cup since Ronaldo's debut in 2006, reaching the quarterfinals. However, it was largely in spite of Ronaldo instead of thanks to him, as he scored in the 3-2 win over Ghana to being the tournament but would fail to find the net the rest of the way, not even in the 6-1 demolition of Switzerland in the Round of 16.

Ultimately, Portugal would fall to Morocco 1-0 in the quarterfinals, as criticism of Roberto Martinez's loyalty to the old guard and Ronaldo specifically resonated in the aftermath.

Portugal's World Cup wins

Portugal has never won a FIFA World Cup across their eight prior appearances at the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the Portugal team at five of those tournaments, helping the Selecao to one of their two appearances in the semifinals all-time.

Portugal has reached the semifinals of the World Cup on two occasions, first in 1966 and again in 2006, falling to a fellow European side both times.