Who will be Portugal's next number 7? The question we need to ask after Cristiano Ronaldo's international retirement

Cristiano Ronaldo has announced his retirement from international football. The news was shared by Ronaldo himself through a message posted on his social media channels: a video in which the Al-Nassr forward reads a statement accompanied by emotional footage retracing his career and his impact on Portuguese football. Cristiano Ronaldo made 234 appearances for Portugal, scoring 146 goals, and took part in six World Cups and six editions of the European Championship, winning the latter in 2016. He made his international debut on 20 August 2003 in a friendly against Kazakhstan, while his final appearance came on 24 September 2026 in a Nations League match against Wales.

Following that match, Ronaldo became embroiled in a dispute with head coach Jorge Jesus, claiming that the manager had left him on the bench for the entire 90 minutes against Norway despite having promised to bring him on during the game after initially leaving him out of the starting line-up. Following the incident, Ronaldo left the Portugal training camp and was subsequently handed a 30-day suspension and a €255 fine. The situation appeared to have been resolved, as his name had been included in the preliminary squad list for Portugal's next Nations League fixture. However, on 5 November, news of Ronaldo's official retirement from international football emerged.

Which numbers has Cristiano Ronaldo worn for Portugal?

An era is coming to an end for Portugal. We will no longer see Cristiano Ronaldo wearing the iconic number 7 shirt. However, his journey towards making that number his own at international level was not as straightforward as it had been during his club career. In the 2003/04 season, his first at Manchester United, Ronaldo immediately inherited the number 7 shirt from David Beckham. Things moved more slowly with Portugal, as the number 7 already belonged to Luis Figo when Ronaldo made his international debut.

For this reason, on the day of his very first appearance for Portugal, against Kazakhstan, Ronaldo took to the pitch wearing the number 16. In his second appearance, against Albania, which was also his first start, he wore the number 11 instead. In the following matches, partly because he was often coming off the bench, Ronaldo wore the number 17. It was the same shirt number he wore at his first major international tournaments, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. According to Transfermarkt, the first time Cristiano Ronaldo wore the number 7 for Portugal was in a friendly against Georgia on 31 May 2008, a warm-up match ahead of Euro 2008. It was also the first major international tournament in which he wore the number 7. A number he would never relinquish, right up until the 2026 World Cup, his last major tournament with Portugal.

Who will be Portugal's next number 7?

Cristiano Ronaldo's retirement from the Portuguese national team inevitably raises one question: who will inherit his number 7 shirt? Ronaldo took on an already significant legacy, that of Luis Figo, regarded as the brightest Portuguese talent since Eusébio, and turned it into something even greater. He took a number that already had a history and made it immortal, to the point where it became inseparable from his own image. More than the traditional number 10 or number 9, respectively associated with creativity and the role of the centre-forward, the number 7 has become the symbol of a single footballer. For at least two, if not three generations, in Portugal and across the world, that number will always have one name attached to it: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Returning to the question that opened this section, the first name that comes to mind is undoubtedly Rafa Leão, who has already worn the number 7 in Nations League fixtures in which Ronaldo was absent. But Portugal is hardly short of talent, and there is a long list of players who could take on the number 7 and become the national team's next technical leaders. In Italy, for instance, we are getting to know the goalscoring qualities of Rodrigo Mora at Roma. João Félix is another name that has to be included: in terms of hype, he was perhaps the player who came closest to being labelled the next Cristiano Ronaldo. And keep an eye on names that may currently fly under the radar of fans less familiar with international or youth football, such as Chelsea's Geovany Quenda and Lens' Mezian Mesloub.