Cristiano Ronaldo is now the record holder for the number of national team selections.
Credit: CARLOS COSTA/AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo set a new world record for selections in the men’s national team by playing his 197ᵉ match for Portugal against Liechtenstein, Thursday, March 23, in Lisbon for UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers. The 38-year-old striker, who currently plays for Saudi club Al-Nasr, started , at the start of this first meeting of the Seleçao qualifiers. Thus, he doubled the Kuwaiti Bader Al-Mutawa (196), with whom he shared this record until then.
“J’aime battre les records, it’s my motivation, je veux devenir le joueur avec le plus de selections de l’histoire, ce serait quelque he chose, je l’avoue, qui me rendrait fier. Mais cela ne s’arrête not here, I still like to be called a lot at selection over the course of my careerRonaldo warned the day before at a press conference.
‘CR7’ honored his first selection on August 20, 2003, at the age of 18 years, 6 months and 15 days, when he participated in a friendly match against Kazakhstan. Then the Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari took over the training of Portugal. In his nearly 20-year international career, the Portuguese captain has faced and participated in 70 different selections. Five European Championships and five World Cups. He won the first two major titles in his country’s history: Euro 2016 and League of Nations 2019.
Five-pointed golden ball He already holds the world record for goals for the national team Since September 1, 2021 thanks to a brace against Ireland. In doing so, he collected two of the most important records in men’s football.
