The trophy is the only absence from Ronaldo’s otherwise stunning CV and he will be hoping to put the disappointment of his Manchester United departure behind him when he captains the national side at the tournament.
But with Ronaldo’s relationship with the World Cup entering its final act, just how many goals has Ronaldo scored on the biggest stage of all?
Find out how many World Cup goals Ronaldo has to his name for Portugal.
How many times has Ronaldo scored at the World Cup for Portugal?
Ronaldo has scored seven goals at the World Cup across his four tournaments to date.
His first came in just his second World Cup appearance in 2006, converting a penalty in the 80th minute to give Portugal a 2-0 win over Iran in the group stages.
The goal made Ronaldo the youngest Portuguese player to score in a World Cup game aged 21 years and 132 days.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner added to his tally in 2010 with a solitary goal in the 7-0 thrashing of North Korea.
Four years later, Ronaldo entered the 2014 World Cup on the back of an injury and only managed to score once – a late winner against Ghana – but it was not enough to prevent Portugal crashing out in the group stage.
Ronaldo’s most fruitful World Cup campaign came in Russia in 2018, with the Portuguese icon scoring a hattrick in the 3-3 draw with Spain, followed by the winner in the 1-0 win over Morocco.
If Ronaldo scores in Qatar, he will become the first male player to score in five World Cups.
In total, Ronaldo has scored 117 goals for Portugal in all competitions since his debut in 2003, making him the highest goalscorer in the history of the Portuguese national team.
He also holds the record for the most international goals scored in the game, ahead of Iranian striker Ali Daei who held the previous best of 109.
Who has scored the most World Cup goals in history?
Former Germany striker Miroslav Klose holds the record for the most goals scored at the World Cup with 16.
The centre forward achieved this feat in 24 appearances across his four tournaments in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
After losing in the final in 2002, followed by two agonising semi-final exits in 2006 and 2010, Klose scored two goals at Brazil 2014 to finally get his hands on the trophy.
Top scorers in World Cup history
- Miroslav Klose (GER) – 16
- Ronaldo (BRA) – 15
- Gerd Muller (GER) – 14
- Just Fontaine (FRA) – 13
- Pele (BRA) – 12
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