Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to score at six World Cups

William Dobbie Updated: 23 Jun 26 19:30

Cristiano Ronaldo added yet another record to his name by scoring at his sixth different World Cup with a double against Uzbekistan.

The 41-year-old netted his first and second of this tournament and tenth World Cup goal in total during Portugal's 5-0 romp over the tournament debutants in Houston.

After netting his maiden World Cup goal all the way back in 2006 against Iran, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has now scored in each and every edition of the tournament since; his latest strike also making him the second-oldest goalscorer in the competition's history.

Ronaldo's great rival Lionel Messi has scored at five World Cups after failing to find the net in the 2010 edition in South Africa.

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With two decades separating Ronaldo's first and most recent World Cup strikes, he is both Portugal's youngest and oldest scorer at the tournament.

Whilst he didn't manage to add to his tally again in Germany, Ronaldo did manage to score the all-important spot-kick during Portugal's penalty-shootout quarter-final victory over England. He was named Young Player of the Tournament after Portugal's last four elimination to France.

Although Portugal had tournaments to forget in both 2010 and 2014, solitary strikes against North Korea and Ghana saw Ronaldo draw further clear in his country's all-time top goalscorer list.

On 15th June 2018, Ronaldo would become the oldest player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup finals courtesy of a dazzling treble against Spain in the group stages. The former Manchester United man slotted two past David de Gea before providing arguably his greatest ever World Cup moment by perfectly dispatching a free-kick into the top corner.

His only other goal of that tournament, a header against Morocco, saw Ronaldo surpass Ferenc Puskas as the highest European goalscorer in international football.

In Qatar in 2022 Ronaldo managed just one goal from five appearances, netting the first goal in their 3-2 win over Ghana in the Group H opener.

Facing a raft of criticism heading into Portugal's clash with Uzbekistan, the leading goalscorer in the entire history of the game did what he does best and proved his doubters wrong, netting for the 974th time in his glittering career.

He then doubled his tally in Portugal's 5-0 win, latching onto a Bruno Fernandes through ball to surpass Eusebio as Portugal's all-time record goalscorer at the World Cup with 10.