Published May 15, 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 years old, but Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said age is just a number and the captain will be judged on his current form and the same criteria as other players.
With this year’s North American tournament scheduled to begin in less than a month, Ronaldo could be playing in his sixth World Cup, a staggering possibility even for a player who has reshaped soccer’s record books.
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But Martínez told Reuters in Lisbon on Thursday that Portugal was not holding up monuments to its past glories.
“We are not managing an iconic figure, we are managing Cristiano Ronaldo, who is playing for the national team with the aim of joining the national team in 2026,” Martinez said.
The debate in Portugal is less about whether Ronaldo, who has scored an international soccer record with 143 goals, should be in the squad and more about what his role should be amid the narrow margin of victory at the World Cup.
For Martinez, the math is easy. A player named Ronaldo is judged by what he does in training and for the team.
“Age is just a number,” Martinez says. “Certainly with the national team, you can measure exactly what’s going on that day, and you’re the one who makes the next day’s decisions. You don’t look beyond the next day.”
How to use Ronaldo
On the question of how to use Ronaldo at a World Cup, where games can be dominated by substitutions, tactical changes and games that go into extra time and penalties, Martinez argued that modern football has moved beyond treating the starting XI as the only measure of status.
“Right now we have five substitutes. It’s like we have a starting team and a finishing team. There’s no distinction,” he said. “There are many different roles, but Cristiano has always accepted his role.”
The question of whether Ronaldo would accept a reduced role has been going on since the 2022 World Cup, when then-manager Fernando Santos left him on the bench against Switzerland after the final group game against South Korea.
Martinez declined to make a direct comparison between the tournaments, saying the format, style and circumstances change. But he stressed that Ronaldo’s status, like any other player’s, is based on ability.
“In the national team, all the players are in the same space, and when you play well, when you perform your role well to help the team win, you have more chances to play than when you don’t play. It’s that simple,” he said.
Martinez said Ronaldo was more than just a ceremonial presence. He pointed out that his 25 goals in 30 appearances for Portugal under his own manager was better than his previous goals-per-game rate under Ronaldo, and said his value was also reflected in the details that were missed in the raw numbers.
“He’s great with that movement, that run, opening up spaces and separating the centre-halves,” Martinez said.
“He’s trained to get into the right positions and always executes the attack patterns that we have. And that gives him scoring opportunities, but it also gives our players the opportunity to space out.”
“Elite Brain”
Martinez insisted that the starting point for discussions about Ronaldo is not age, but rather data, training, attitude and tactical suitability.
He said Ronaldo’s longevity was underpinned not only by his physical talent, but also by his “elite brain” and pursuit of daily improvement.
What surprised him most after taking over as manager was not Ronaldo’s aura, but his appetite.
“Players who have won everything have the same greed as players who haven’t won a trophy yet,” Martinez said.
He added that that hungry spirit made Ronaldo a “very important person in the dressing room, as a captain and as someone who represents what it means to play for the national team.”
Martinez knows the noise will never go away. He said “every taxi driver” has an opinion about Ronaldo, even if he hasn’t seen him recently.
But he said his job is to look at the evidence and choose the team.
“The players are always on the pitch based on their ability,” Martinez said. “And if the environment indicates otherwise, it’s a natural choice.”
