Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted this Saturday enjoying the beach in Palm Beach, Florida, just four days before Portugal's debut in the .
A video shared by the Instagram account @onlyindade shows a man with an athletic build, shirtless, in black shorts and sunglasses, walking along the shore and entering the water.
The post, accompanied by the text "Cristiano Ronaldo enjoying the Florida sun today," amassed over 51,000 likes in just a few hours. Although the distance and low resolution of the photographs make definitive identification difficult, multiple media outlets and users identified the man as the Portuguese star.
Ronaldo's presence in South Florida is not coincidental: the Portuguese delegation arrived that same day in Palm Beach to establish their training base for the tournament. The team has just a few days to finalize their preparations before their first World Cup commitment.
Portugal will make its debut on June 17 against the Democratic Republic of the Congo at NRG Stadium in Houston, in what will be the first match of Group K. They will then face Uzbekistan on June 23, also in Houston, before concluding the group stage on June 27 against Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, in a match that could determine the group's leadership.
This last match is the most significant for the community of South Florida, as it will be played at home and features two of the teams most followed by the local fans.
For Ronaldo, the 2026 World Cup holds a special significance: the forward stated in November 2025 that it would be his last tournament with the Portuguese national team. At 41 years old, the Al-Nassr forward is participating in his sixth World Cup, equaling the historic record shared with Lionel Messi and Guillermo Ochoa.
Ronaldo is now the only player to have scored in five different World Cups, from Germany 2006 to Qatar 2022. If he scores in this edition, he would extend that record to six consecutive tournaments, a milestone that will be hard for anyone to match in the future.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada from June 11 to July 19, is also the first in history to feature eight players aged 40 and over participating in the same edition, including Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Guillermo Ochoa.
Miami will host a total of seven matches of the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium, including the knockout stages and the third-place match, making South Florida one of the epicenters of the largest sporting event on the planet.
Filed under: