Cristiano Ronaldo's last dance? Why the Club World Cup is the perfect forum for the star striker to steal the spotlight once more

In recent months, it has been hard to tell where the soccer ends and showbiz starts with the Club World Cup. Infantino, to his credit, has tapped into popular culture with ease - 90 minutes of league play boring and not enough for the kids? Let's get to them in other ways.

Everything, from the day he announced the host venues at a music festival in New York's Central Park has felt choreographed. The trophy is simultaneously wondrous and a visceral assault on the senses that requires a bejeweled key to open. The tournament has been pushed by a global tour of soccer superstars old and new. FIFA has made use of TikTok, Instagram, and now internet streaming.

Put another way: this is no longer a just soccer tournament. Now, it's just as much about America, stardom, and putting on a show, by whatever means possible. And to put on the best show, you need the biggest stars. That's why European clubs have been supposedly gently nudged by the threat of hefty fines to play the big guns.

It's why you will see Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and now - for the price of €10 million pocketed by Liverpool - Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Ronaldo, by extension, should be a no brainer. You could make an argument that he and Lionel Messi are not only the famous athletes on earth, but among the most famous people, period.

No one has more Instagram followers, or career goals, than the Portugal captain. A move to the Saudi Pro League hasn't seen his star decline. Rather, it has only seen kits fly off the shelves. Apparently there are massive Al-Nassr fans around the globe, from the muddy fields of Manchester to the tarmac-topped cages of Chinatown in New York.

There's a chance that most people who wear Al-Nassr kits couldn't name another Saudi Pro League club. But that doesn't matter - they know who Ronaldo is.

In part, Ronaldo can blame his biggest footballing rival for all of this. According to the criteria pieced together by FIFA, Inter Miami should technically not be in the Club World Cup. Their ranking coefficient is far lower than that of other MLS clubs. They have not won MLS Cup.

But last fall, FIFA saw its chance - after Miami won the Supporters' Shield, they suddenly became specially invited guests to the Club World Cup, information that Messi himself didn't seem to know what to do with.

Everything since then has felt like a reason to squeeze through a loophole. Transfers can't happen in time before the Club World Cup? No worries lads, here's a new transfer window where you can sign whoever you want. A Liga MX team ruled out to due multi-club ownership? Let's create a one-match play-in between two of the most marketable teams in North America.

At this point, what is one more disruption? Another slight shift in the footballing matrix? Of course, Ronaldo shouldn't be able to be moved before the end of his contract. But regulations are out of the window here.

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The merit in this depends on what you view Ronaldo as these days. Certainly, he can still play a bit. He was the Saudi Pro League's top scorer for two years in a row, remains in the Portugal squad, and is, famously, in the hunt to become the first soccer player ever to score 1,000 goals. He is currently at 936, and averaging around 25 per season in his Saudi stint.

At 40-years-old, another 64 would be a pipe dream for most. But Ronaldo is both a miraculously good athlete and an immensely selfish striker. If he has three years of professional football left in his legs - he probably does - then that mark is attainable.

More broadly, Ronaldo is a brand. He promotes pretty much everything. His social media, these days, is a slew of deals and personal promotions. A Ronaldo museum is soon to open in Hong Kong. He has a contract with Armani, personal cologne, and, of course, a bumper Nike contract.

More than 650 million people follow his wonderfully curated Instagram account. He now has a YouTube channel in which he doesn't really do much other than show the world how nice it must be to be Cristiano Ronaldo.

Right now, he has more fame and more money than he knows what to do with. There is no sense, here, of what post-football Cristiano will look like. The solution? Try everything.

And FIFA loves this sort of thing. Ronaldo, these days, exists in the realm of Post Malone, Mr Beast and other celebrities who are immensely famous, but - for many people - you're not quite sure what for. This is free interaction, free clicks, and, crucially, millions of fresh eyes. What do you do for a man unimaginably wealthy but lacking in direction? Give him something to compete for - and profit off it as a result.

It's also vitally important to remember here, that Ronaldo loves the spotlight. He may be 40, past his best, and irrelevant in the scope of the Ballon d'Or race, but Ronaldo still oozes confidence. He is dripping in main character energy.

A couple years ago, Ronaldo was doing interviews telling the world why Man United had so brutally offended him by realizing that he was a liability. He was celebrating goals that weren't his at the World Cup. He still thinks that he makes Portugal's national team better, despite the fact that they have a wonderful crop of fresh talent, and, with a more fluid system, could be contenders in 2026.

Ronaldo doesn't care about that. He doesn't really care what you think, either. This is, of course, the duality of it all. Is it annoying to see him still try to keep himself in the picture? Of course. But that is his nature. Ronaldo's origin story is that of the ultimate competitor, the guy who was a really good athlete who trained himself to become of the greatest soccer players the world has ever seen.

He cannot stop, and likely won't until he is absolutely told he has to.

The Club World Cup, then, is another platform for him to radiate that energy, to prove, in some way, that he still belongs in the upper echelon, that he can kick it with Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and other world-class strikers. Ronaldo wants to show he can still compete? Here's the perfect setting for him to do it.

At some point, though, logic has to kick in. Yes, rules have been bent. But there are still some fundamental truths here. The first is that Ronaldo will want a lot of money. The second is that there are not many clubs that can afford it. And the third, crucial, unspoken one, is that there is no guarantee that any clubs will want to sign him to, you know, play football.

But such is the nonsense of soccer and the relentlessness of the rumor mill that there could be some suitors. Real Madrid fans tried their part, a few people putting a sign outside the training ground, reading "Florentino, bring back CR7." That won't happen, but the appetite is there (and it's a fun thought).

The more likely move seems to be either a switch to another Saudi Pro League side or an African team. It has been reported by multiple outlets that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would happily facilitate a switch to Al Hilal, Al-Nassr's bitter rivals who already have a very good No. 9 in their ranks in Aleksandar Mitrovic.

England's Daily Telegraph reported that Morocco's Wydad Casablanca and Liga MX's Monterrey are potential landing spots for short term deals. MLS would be fun but looks unlikely due to stiff salary cap rules (as well as the fact that Seattle and Miami are both set at his position). There is scattered speculation, too, that Ronaldo could simply do a U-turn, and that Al Nassr have reached an agreement to bring him back - but nothing yet concrete.

And off the pitch, there are other more serious issues to be considered. Ronaldo faced sexual assault accusations after an alleged incident in Las Vegas during a tour of the U.S. in 2009. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson decided in 2019 not to pursue criminal charges, though the Associated Press reported in 2023 that a civil lawsuit against Ronaldo may be reopened. Ronaldo hasn't played a minute of football in the United States since.

So what does that all mean for a potential Club World Cup appearance? Ronaldo took to Instagram after the conclusion of the Saudi Pro League season to announce that "This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all." Those didn't read like the words of a guy who's happy to stick around.

Then there's the final sweetener: Ronaldo vs. Messi, the last act. A few kind - if massively unlikely - results with the right team, and the duo could meet one last time in club football. That would perhaps be the greatest show of them all, two bitter rivals going head to head in their final years, a wonderfully marketed duel in the American heat as the sun sets.

One last manufactured ride, eh lads? But let's make it feel real.

And that's kind of the point here. The Club World Cup will be full-on football in some respects, but plastic in others. It has been curated, tweaked and molded to be as marketable, watchable and accessible as possible. And yes, Infantino, IShowSpeed and Ronaldo feels like a meme, a nightmare blunt rotation brought to life.

But it is also another selling point for a maddening tournament that has been choreographed wonderfully. Now, it's the perfect forum for Ronaldo's last dance.