Iโm here to debunk one of the biggest myths used to glaze Cristiano Ronaldo:
โPortugal were nothing before Ronaldo.โ
Thatโs simply false.
Portugal has always been a major football nation. The average Portuguese child has a far higher chance of becoming a professional footballer than most countries. This isnโt some tiny footballing underdog like Iceland.
Before Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal had already produced:
โข 3 Ballon dโOr winners
โข A record 4 European Golden Boots (most by any nation)
At club level, Portuguese football was elite long before Ronaldo.
Benfica were one of Europeโs first superpowers, dominating alongside Real Madrid in the early European Cup era. They reached 9 European Cup/Champions League finals โ more than clubs from most footballing nations โ and represented Europe on the world stage in the Intercontinental Cup.
Internationally, people love saying Portugal couldnโt qualify for tournaments before Ronaldo.
What they wonโt tell you is that World Cups and Euros had only 12-16 teams back then. By todayโs qualification formats, Portugal wouldโve qualified for several more tournaments, using the old format Ronaldo would have missed 3-4 championships
And Portugalโs greatest World Cup achievement remains their 3rd-place finish in 1966, when Eusรฉbio delivered one of the greatest World Cup performances ever against an era featuring Pelรฉโs Brazil.
Now people want to use the Nations League โ essentially a glorified friendly tournament created for World Cup preparation โ to erase over half a century of Portuguese football history and credit everything to one man.
Portugal didnโt become a football nation because of Ronaldo.
Ronaldo was fortunate enough to be born into a football nation that was already great.