World Cup 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo gets a new head coach

Portugal’s elimination brought with it a series of changes, with Cristiano Ronaldo in the middle of it all.

Portugal’s elimination brought with it a series of changes, with Cristiano Ronaldo in the middle of it all.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT
Joe Brennan
Football Journalist
Born in Leeds, Joe finished his Spanish degree in 2018 before becoming an English teacher to football (soccer) players and managers, as well as collaborating with various football media outlets in English and Spanish. He joined AS in 2022 and covers both the men’s and women’s game across Europe and beyond.
Update:

Cristiano Ronaldo has a new head coach. OK, an old one. An old, old one at that. Jorge Jesus is 71-years-old, and has already managed Cristiano before. He’s now back in his life, taking charge of the Portuguese national team in their new Euro 2028-World Cup 2030 cycle.

Reports suggest that he has signed a deal with the Portuguese Federation and will presented within the next 24 hours.

Jesus was at Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s current club team, until May of last year. He joined the Saudi club in 2025 and spent a single season working with the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner. However, despite having a four-decade-long coaching career of over 15 clubs, Jesus has never coached at international level.

His most notable achievement in Europe came with Benfica in Portugal, where he spent just over 9 seasons. Across two stints, he won three league titles, one Portuguese Cup, one Super Cup, and five League Cups. As well as his time at the Estádio da Luz, Jesus also had an extremely successful time at Flamengo in Brazil, winning the Brasileirão, the Brazilian Super Cup, the South American Super Cup, and the prestigious Copa Libertadores in a period of just two years.

He will now take over at the Portuguese national team, where he will likely make his debut on the bench on 24 September, defending the Nations League against Wales at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.

The focus of this piece is not the national team, not the old head coach nor the new one, but Cristiano Ronaldo. That’s how things were under Roberto Martínez, and that’s how things look set to be under Jorge Jesus, too. Cristiano has been the national team, is the national team, and probably will be the national team. A World Cup on home soil, there’s no better way to say goodbye, right?

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