How much playing time will Ronaldo get at the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Portugal coach Martinez makes a statement

Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 but Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said age is just a number and his captain is judged on his current form and to the same standards as everyone else.

Ronaldo could be playing in a sixth World Cup with this year’s tournament in North America kicking off in less than a month, a mind-boggling possibility even for a player who has transformed football’s record books.

Yet Martinez contradicts this Reuters On Thursday in Lisbon he emphasized that Portugal does not carry a monument of past glory.

“We are managing the Cristiano Ronaldo who plays for the national team and is trying to get into the 2026 squad, not the iconic figure,” Martinez said.

The debate in Portugal is less about whether Ronaldo, the record scorer in international football with 143 goals, belongs in the squad and more about what his role should be when World Cup margins are razor-thin.

For Martinez, the calculation is simple. The player Ronaldo is judged on what he does in training and for the team.

«Age is just a number. For sure, in the national team we can measure exactly what’s happening that day, and you make the decisions for the next day. You never look beyond the next day,» Martinez said.

«Now we have five substitutions. It’s almost like we have a starting team and a finishing team. There is no distinction. There are different roles, and Cristiano has always accepted his role,» he added.

The question of whether Ronaldo would accept a smaller role has lingered since the 2022 World Cup, when then-coach Fernando Santos left him on the bench against Switzerland after the final group match against South Korea.

READ ALSO | France squad for 2026 FIFA World Cup: full list; Mbappe in, no Griezmann

Martinez declined to draw direct parallels between tournaments, saying format, style and context change. But he stressed that Ronaldo’s place, like everyone else’s, rests on merit.

«All the players are in the same room in the national team, where if they play well and do their role well to help the team win, they have a better chance of playing than if they don’t. It’s as simple as that,» he said.

Martinez said Ronaldo is much more than a ceremonial presence. He pointed to 25 goals in 30 games in Portugal under his leadership, a better goals-per-game ratio than under Ronaldo’s previous managers, and said his value is also reflected in details missing in raw figures.

“He’s fantastic at those movements, those runs, opening up spaces, splitting the middle halves,” Martinez said.

Martinez stressed that age should not be the starting point of any discussion about Ronaldo, but rather data, training, attitude and tactical suitability.

He said Ronaldo’s longevity is not only underpinned by physical gifts, but also by «that elite brain» and a daily drive for improvement. What surprised him most after taking charge was not Ronaldo’s appearance, but his appetite.

“Someone who has won everything has the hunger of someone who hasn’t won a trophy yet,” Martinez said.

That hunger, he added, had made Ronaldo “a very important figure in the dressing room, as a captain, as someone who represents what it means to play for the national team.”

Martinez knows the sound will never fade. He said that ‘every taxi driver’ has an opinion about Ronaldo, even if they haven’t seen him recently.

But it’s his job, he said, to examine the evidence and choose the team.

«The players are always on the field on merit. And if the environment shows the opposite, it is a natural selection,» Martinez said.

Published on May 15, 2026