“The day has come to hand over the number 7 shirt of our national team, the shirt that belongs to all of us. I never considered it only mine, but for 23 years I had the privilege and the responsibility to wear it, protect it and represent it in stadiums all over the world.
Today the moment has come to hand it over to the future. It was not an easy decision, because some choices are made not only with the mind but also with the heart. A journey that began in August 2003 is coming to an end, a journey that changed my life forever.
When I look back and think about everything I have experienced with the national team, I see not only matches, goals, records or trophies. I see people, emigrants who for 90 minutes felt a little closer to Portugal. I see millions of Portuguese whom I have never met personally, but who have been part of my life. Because, at the end of the day, football is much more than a simple game. Football is the people.
Throughout my career with the national team, I have always tried to push beyond my limits. I wanted to win, I wanted to be the best, I wanted to make history. I have always been demanding of myself, I have always wanted more, and I have believed we could go even further. And for this shirt, I have given everything.
There were perfect afternoons and evenings, victories I will never forget, and defeats whose memory still hurts me today. I have failed too, I have suffered as well. There were moments when I could not give the Portuguese what they wanted so badly. But I never gave up. And above all, I never stopped being proud to represent Portugal.
Over all these years I have learned some very simple things: goals pass, trophies stay in museums, and records are sooner or later broken. But there is something time will never be able to erase: the place we hold in people’s hearts.
If I ever made you happy, if one of my goals made you hug someone, forget a worry or feel proud of our country, then everything was worth it.
Because being Portuguese also means this. We suffer together, we rise together and we learn to believe again. Portugal will always need young people who dream, players who never give up and new generations who believe it is possible to reach where no one has gone before. Because a country that keeps producing new heroes is a country that never stops believing in itself.
To my national team teammates, I want to dedicate a special message. Thank you for every run, every hug, every discussion, every silence before we entered the pitch, for every victory we celebrated together and for every defeat that made us stronger. I had the privilege of being your captain, but a captain never walks alone. And you are part of my story.
To all the coaches, managers, doctors, physiotherapists, equipment staff, collaborators and everyone who worked by my side during these years, I express my gratitude. Many of you never appear in photographs. But without you, none of those photographs would have been possible.
To my family, thank you for sharing this dream with me. Thank you for understanding my absences, my sacrifices and the moments when the national team had to take up space that also belonged to you. If I have come this far, it is because we have always walked hand in hand.
And to you, Portuguese, all the Portuguese scattered across the most distant corners of the world, I want to tell you one last thing.
There is an image I will always carry with me: the moment the national anthem plays. I look around, I see my teammates, the stands, children, mothers, fathers and grandparents. I see Portuguese who have travelled thousands of kilometres just to be there. And during those few minutes we are no different from one another. There are no more clubs, no more colours, no more social classes, professions or differing opinions. There is only one passion: Portugal.
This is the feeling I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Today I bring my journey on the pitch with the national team to an end. I leave with my head held high, proud of everything I have achieved and convinced that I gave everything for Portugal.
But I will never stop being one of you. I will continue to suffer, to be moved and to celebrate every Portugal victory together with you. I dedicated my life to working hard and becoming the best footballer in the world.
Today I understand that my greatest victory was the privilege of representing the best country in the world.
Thank you for these 23 years. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for letting me live a dream that began when I was still a child, in Madeira, running after a ball.
The number 7 shirt remains. The pride I had in wearing it will belong to me forever.
Portugal will always be inside me.
Forever.”