Teddy Sheringham on Cristiano Ronaldo's Longevity in Football

Teddy Sheringham has seen footballers push their bodies to the limit. He did it himself, playing Premier League football until he was 40. So when he says Cristiano Ronaldo could keep going to 50, he isn’t joking.

In his eyes, Ronaldo is built for it.

Speaking to BOYLE Sports, Sheringham looked at the 41‑year‑old Al-Nassr forward and saw a machine still running at full power. “Could Cristiano Ronaldo play into his 50s at this rate? It wouldn’t surprise me when you look at his body at 41. He’s still as fit as a fiddle,” he said, pointing to a player who has turned self-preservation into an art form.

Ronaldo has spent the last decade and a half constructing his own high-performance bubble. Personal trainers. Tailored gym work. Cryotherapy. Restrictive diets that leave no room for indulgence. It has all fed into the same obsession: staying at the top while others fade in their mid-30s.

The result is a forward still scoring freely in his 40s and preparing to lead Portugal into the 2026 World Cup in North America. While most of his generation are long retired, he is still building towards another global tournament.

Sheringham highlighted that relentless commitment. “He’s had his own training team for the past 15 years to keep him in tip top shape and as long as he still has the desire then he will keep going,” he said. Then came the caveat every veteran understands. “But it’s tough when you get to that age, getting out of bed every day to go and do your training.”

The Saudi Pro League has offered Ronaldo a stage that suits this phase of his career. The level is not as fierce as the Champions League grind, but the spotlight remains. Goals still matter. So does star power.

“I’m sure he still loves what he’s doing and he’s playing in a league that’s obviously not as strong as other competitions around the world,” Sheringham said. “But if you’re still scoring goals and people still want you to play, then why not keep going. He has an air of invincibility around him, and he’s got the body as well and the fitness, so I think we’ve got plenty of years of Ronaldo to come yet.”

The question many supporters keep asking is whether those years could include one last dance in Europe. A return to Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho would be a dream scenario for romantics. Sheringham shut that door.

“Can I see Cristiano Ronaldo coming back to Real Madrid to play under Jose Mourinho again? Definitely not. He will not be coming back to Europe,” he insisted.

It is a blunt reading of the modern game. European superclubs are younger, faster, more tactically rigid than ever. Wages, dressing-room dynamics, pressing demands – the margins are brutal. Ronaldo has already conquered England, Spain and Italy, lifting Champions League and domestic titles along the way. That chapter, Sheringham believes, is closed.

If there is to be another move after Saudi Arabia, he sees it coming from the other side of the Atlantic.

He can picture Ronaldo in the United States, trading desert heat for American glitz, sharing a continent with Lionel Messi and turning MLS into a global spectacle. “He might go to America though if he wants to experience something else. You could see that, and he’d certainly light MLS up like no one else can,” Sheringham said.

The decision, he feels, will be entirely on Ronaldo’s terms. “Maybe it will all come down to what he wants to do once he finally does retire.”

For now, the veteran forward’s world remains split between Riyadh and the international stage. His immediate target is clear: drive Portugal through another World Cup cycle, starting with their 2026 opener against DR Congo in Group K.

The wider debate rumbles on around him. How long can one man bend time in a sport that chews up legs and lungs at frightening speed? Sheringham’s answer is simple: with that body, that mindset and that obsession, dismissing the idea of Ronaldo playing into his 50s no longer feels outlandish – it feels like a challenge he might actually accept.