Cristiano Ronaldo’s 980th Goal: Al Nassr 3-0 Al Diriyah
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 980th goal of his career to open the scoring as Al Nassr beat Al Diriyah 3-0 at Al-Awwal Park on Friday night, taking the Saudi Pro League champions to 19 points from eight matches and level with Al Qadsiah at the top. Twenty goals from a thousand. Below: the match minute by minute, the run-up to 980, his World Cup record by tournament, and the Al Nassr shirts in men’s and youth sizing.
980: the numbers behind the goal
Ronaldo is now 20 goals from 1,000 in competitive matches — a figure no player has reached in senior football. The goal also moved him to 833 club goals, with his Portugal total at 146 from 226 caps. He has scored 23 goals in the 2026 calendar year, 20 of them for Al Nassr.
The 980th came in his first match back after an international break in which his relationship with the Portugal camp broke down. He left the national team’s gathering after a disagreement over his involvement in a Nations League fixture against Norway, then returned to club football and scored in under half an hour. The Portuguese federation opened a disciplinary process that can carry a suspension of between one and six months, so the next two Nations League matches — against Wales on 14 November and Denmark on 17 November — are not guaranteed.
Friday 9 October · Al-Awwal Park, Riyadh
Al Nassr 3-0 Al Diriyah
Al Nassr were the better side throughout and led 2-0 at the break. Ronaldo was the highest-rated player on the pitch, and not only for the goal: two shots on target, four key passes, all 16 passes he attempted found a teammate, both aerial duels won, one tackle and two clearances.
| Minute | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| 9' | Overturned | Ronaldo played a one-two and chipped the goalkeeper, but the assistant flagged him offside. The first thing he did after a difficult international break, and it did not count. |
| 19' | Nearly | Ronaldo headed the ball into the path of Samu Costa, whose shot was cleared on the line by a defender. |
| 23' | GOAL — 980 | Coman forced a save from Waleed Abdullah, the ball stayed in the box, and Ronaldo reached the rebound first to put Al Nassr ahead. |
| 35' | GOAL — 2-0 | Joao Felix swung a corner into the six-yard box and Samu Costa headed in his second goal of the season. Costa had almost put one into his own net on 18 minutes. |
| 41' | No penalty | Darwin Nunez went down in the box. VAR reviewed it and the referee saw no foul. |
| 77' | GOAL — 3-0 | Sadio Mane won the ball and released Kingsley Coman, who ran the length of the field and finished across the keeper. |
| Statistic | |
|---|---|
| Al Nassr goals | 3 |
| Al Diriyah goals | 0 |
| Shots | 13 – 8 |
| Shots on target | 8 – 1 |
| Possession | 53% |
| Corners | 10 |
| Ronaldo’s rating | 8.6, highest on the pitch |
How the 980 arrived: the last eight goals
The run to 980 has not been continuous. Ronaldo went five months without scoring between 28August and 9 September, then scored twice in his first two matches back. Four of his last eight goals have come in 2026, three of them against clubs in the Saudi league and one for Portugal in a World Cup knockout tie.
| No. | Date | Fixture | Min | How |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 980 | 10 Oct 2026 | Al Nassr v Al Diriyah | 23' | Close-range rebound |
| 979 | 9 Sep 2026 | Al Nassr v Abha | 22' | Header |
| 978 | 28 Aug 2026 | Al Nassr v Al Taawoun | 50' | Right-foot finish |
| 977 | 21 Aug 2026 | Al Riyadh v Al Nassr | 83' | Left-foot finish |
| 976 | 2 Jul 2026 | Portugal v Croatia | 68' | Penalty — World Cup |
| 975 | 23 Jun 2026 | Portugal v Uzbekistan | 39' | Counter finish |
| 974 | 23 Jun 2026 | Portugal v Uzbekistan | 6' | Header |
| 973 | 21 May 2026 | Al Nassr v Damac | 81' | Right-foot finish |
Two entries in that list are the same match, and they are the ones that matter most for the record book. The brace against Uzbekistan on 23 June made him the first player in history to score in six separate World Cups, and moved him past Eusebio as Portugal’s leading scorer at a tournament. The penalty against Croatia on 2 July was the first World Cup knockout goal of his career — his previous ten had all come in group stages.
Eleven goals in six World Cups
Portugal lost 1-0 to Spain in the round of 16 at Dallas, and Ronaldo came off the pitch having played a full match without adding to his tally. It ended a World Cup career that began with a goal against Iran in Germany in June 2006, twenty years earlier.
| Year | Hosts | Goals | Against |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Germany | 1 | Iran |
| 2010 | South Africa | 1 | North Korea |
| 2014 | Brazil | 1 | Ghana |
| 2018 | Russia | 4 | Spain (3), Morocco |
| 2022 | Qatar | 1 | Ghana |
| 2026 | Canada / Mexico / USA | 3 | Uzbekistan (2), Croatia (1, penalty) |
At 41 years and 138 days he became the second-oldest player to score twice at a World Cup, and seventeen days later the oldest to score in a knockout — behind only Roger Milla, who was 42 in 1994. He played 26 matches in total across the six tournaments.
Al Nassr’s season after Matchweek 8
| Team | Points | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Al Qadsiah | 19 | 2nd, level on points and ahead on goal difference |
| Al Nassr | 19 | Third before Friday, now level at the top |
| Al Hilal | 18 | One point behind with a match in hand |
| Al Diriyah | 11 | Ninth, unbeaten on the road before Friday |
Ronaldo has scored 101 goals in 113 appearances for Al Nassr since arriving in the Saudi league, 78 of them in 82 league matches. He scored eight in the first eight rounds of this season, and Al Nassr’s next fixture is away to Al Ahli on 15 October.
Al Nassr supporters put a large tifo up before kick-off, and the players met it before the game. It is the same support that followed him through the Portugal affair. He came back, played 90 minutes, and scored.
The match shirt
Al Nassr 2026/27 home, No. 7 Ronaldo
Al Nassr’s 2026/27 home shirt is the yellow Al-Nassr top with the No. 7 that Ronaldo wore on Friday night. We stock it in men’s sizing XS–6XL and in youth sizing from 7-8 years up to 14-16 years. There is no women’s cut of this shirt in the shop, so we have not listed one.
The same shirt in standard men’s and youth sizing
A second 2026/27 home shirt is cut on a standard men’s scale (S–3XL) rather than the Asian XS–6XL run above, and comes with the matching youth shirt. Same yellow Al-Nassr design, same No. 7.
The change strip
Al Nassr 2026/27 away
The away shirt is the dark Al-Nassr alternative, and it is the one Al Nassr wore in the second half of a match they won three times over. Men’s sizing XS–6XL; no youth or women’s version in the shop.
Last season
Al Nassr 2025/26 home, No. 7 Ronaldo
Last season’s home shirt — the Al Nassr yellow Ronaldo wore through the 101 goals that took him past 100 for the club. Still the easiest way to get hold of the shirt he was actually wearing when he moved onto 980, and available in men’s and youth sizing.
Match events, statistics and goal records compiled from the Saudi Pro League Matchweek 8 live feeds and the international goal record published after 9 October 2026.