I still have my first Cristiano Ronaldo jersey. It is from the 2014 World Cup, the one I begged my mother to buy for me. The fabric is torn, the lettering has started peeling off and the logos are barely holding on. But I have never thought about throwing it away.

Back then, I probably did not understand how much a footballer could mean to someone. I would spend an hour or two searching the internet for one good, crisp picture of Ronaldo to set as my brother’s desktop wallpaper. Then came the YouTube videos. His skills, goals, free-kicks, lifestyle and car collection, with ‘On and On’ playing in the background.

The videos took ages to load, but I would wait. I watched the same clips over and over again, then went to school the next day to talk about him with my friends. It was a routine I never got tired of. I cut out newspaper pictures of Ronaldo and stuck them all over the house.

More than a decade later, I am approaching graduation, have started working and find myself with much less time for the game that once occupied so much of my day.

And now, Cristiano Ronaldo is saying goodbye to international football.

After 23 years, 234 appearances and 146 goals, the 41-year-old has announced his retirement from Portugal’s national team. It is not the farewell many would have imagined for one of the greatest players to represent a country. His long-time rival Lionel Messi received an emotional send-off from Argentina after winning the World Cup. Ronaldo’s departure in contrast, comes with following his rift with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus, staying on bench on his very last match.

But for me it feels like a chapter of my own life is coming to an end.

How Ronaldo put Portugal on the footballing map

Portugal had a footballing history long before Ronaldo. Eusébio led the country to the 1966 World Cup semi-finals, while Luís Figo, Rui Costa and the golden generation of the late 1990s and early 2000s helped establish it as a prominent European football nation.

But Ronaldo took Portugal somewhere else.

Before his international debut in 2003, Portugal had qualified for only three European Championships and three World Cups. During his international career, they qualified for every subsequent edition, appearing in six Euros and six World Cups.

More importantly, Portugal went from having no major international trophies to winning three during his time with the national team: Euro 2016 and the Uefa Nations League in 2019 and 2025.

Of course, he did not do it alone. Portugal had plenty of talented players and excellent coaches. But Ronaldo was the face of that transformation, the captain who helped turn a country’s ambitions into expectations.

His influence also travelled beyond Portugal. Modern superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Vinícius Júnior and many others idolise him. An entire generation grew up watching his celebrations, imitating his free-kicks and dreaming of wearing the number 7 shirt.

Some of his greatest moments in a Portugal shirt

His journey with Portugal began in 2003, when an 18-year-old Ronaldo came on at half-time for Luís Figo against Kazakhstan. A year later, he was crying on the pitch after Portugal lost the Euro 2004 final to Greece. He was only 19, and the dream of winning a trophy on home soil had slipped away.

There were plenty of nights to remember after that. His hat-trick against Sweden in 2013 to take Portugal to the 2014 World Cup. That iconic hat trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup, capped by that stunning free-kick. And of course the night Portugal finally became European champions.

Euro 2016 will always be special. Ronaldo had to leave the final against France in tears after picking up an injury. But he returned to the touchline, encouraged his team-mates and watched as Éder scored the winner in extra time.

The image of Ronaldo celebrating with his team-mates after the final whistle remains one of the defining moments of his career. The teenager who had cried after losing the Euro 2004 final had finally become a European champion.

He would go on to lift the Nations League twice, in 2019 and 2025, becoming a three-time major international champion with Portugal. Along the way, he won five Ballon d’Or awards, but perhaps no recognition could mean more than finally bringing a major trophy home to his country.

His final World Cup chapter came in 2026. He became the first player to score at six different editions of the tournament, adding another record to an international career that had taken him to football’s biggest stage for two decades. Portugal eventually bowed out in the last 16 against eventual champions Spain.

A part of my childhood goes with him

I remember watching Ronaldo walk down the tunnel in tears after Portugal’s defeat to Morocco in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals. I cried with him.

I have grown up during those 23 years too. Age eventually caught up with him. The pace, explosiveness and spark that once made him so special were no longer always there. Perhaps the farewell could have come a bit earlier.

But even as his form declined, I, along with his many fans, never stopped looking forward to seeing his name on the team sheet. Whenever he played, the conversation somehow found its way back to him. When he scored, I still felt that excitement. Perhaps it was nostalgia, or perhaps it was simply difficult to let go of someone I had watched and who had inspired me for so long.

Somewhere along the way, the boy who spent hours watching Ronaldo compilations grew up. Football became something I followed between classes, assignments and work. I no longer watched every match or waited for every highlight. But whenever Ronaldo played for Portugal, in any stage I still found myself tuning in. That excitement never really went away.

There will be other players, new stars, new records and new heroes. Portugal will continue to play, and another generation will grow up wearing its number 7 shirt. But no one will replace the legacy Cristiano has built for himself. The movie might not end on a good note, but it has been one hell of a journey. And I am personally happy and honoured to have witnessed it.

Maybe that is what makes a footballer truly special. It is not just the goals, the trophies or the accolades. It is the memories people build around them and the way their journey becomes part of someone else’s life.

In his farewell message, Ronaldo seemed to understand that better than anyone. “Goals come and go, trophies end up in museums, records are eventually broken, but there is something that time can never erase. The place I hold in people’s hearts,” he said.