Cristiano Ronaldo is being talked about for the 2030 World Cup host role in Portugal, Spain and Morocco, and Louis Saha says the idea is not far-fetched. Ronaldo is 41 and already at FIFA's flagship event for the sixth time, yet the discussion now is whether he could still be part of that tournament in four years' time.
Saha said Ronaldo may have another World Cup left in him. He pointed to the way the forward still handles the job, saying, "That's the problem, I think at some point he has to stop because he's clearly a human. But yes, he's playing like a robot."
Louis Saha on Ronaldo
The former Manchester United team-mate added that Ronaldo's body and mentality still separate him from most players. "He has this quality body and his brain is not like a normal person," Saha said. He also described the forward's refusal to lean on others: "Cristiano doesn't ask. He doesn't ask for help. He's saying, ‘I'm fit enough, I'm as good, I am like 35 years old, so I'm going to score with your support or not’."
Portugal, Spain and Morocco
The 2030 World Cup will be staged in Portugal, Spain and Morocco, which gives the idea a direct link to Ronaldo's homeland. Saha said that backdrop matters because Ronaldo is still active at Al-Nassr in the 2025-26 season and has 12 months left on his current contract.
Ronaldo has already won a couple of Golden Boots in Saudi Arabia and is still chasing 1,000 competitive career goals. He has also made clear he wants to become a teammate of his eldest son Cristiano Jr., while his career path has run from Sporting to Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo's late-career target
The contradiction is obvious. He is already the most-capped and highest-scoring performer in men's international football, but he is also 41 and still being discussed as a possible player for 2030. Saha sharpened that point by saying, "It's a big, big, big difference between those two. Even if they are two monsters, definitely I respect more this guy because you look at his stats - run nine-and-a-half or 10 or 11km. This is crazy numbers. He may have run 1,000 marathons now! It's crazy."
That is the frame now: a player nearing the end of a long career, still in demand, still producing numbers, and still tied to a tournament in his homeland. Whether he is actually fit and selected in 2030 will be the part that decides if this stays a theory or turns into one more run at World Cup football.
