'Dream come true' - Man United icon Cristiano Ronaldo shows true colours after major announcement

Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo has declared his delight after Portugal was announced as a co-host for the 2030 World Cup.

Ronaldo's home country, combined with Spain and Morocco, will be hosting the major international tournament for the very first time. However, the FIFA competition will have a unique twist that year as Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay shall all be hosting one opening game each to pay tribute to the 100th year anniversary of the tournament.

At 39, Ronaldo is unlikely to feature at the 2030 tournament, but he could not hide his excitement about the World Cup coming to Portugal on social media. In an Instagram post, the forward wrote: "A dream come true.

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"Portugal will host the World Cup 2030 and make us proud. Together!"

Since leaving United in 2022, Ronaldo has been plying his trade in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr. Since moving to the Middle East country, the 39-year-old has become an ambassador for their bid to host the 2034 World Cup, which was also confirmed on Wednesday after they were the only bidders for that tournament.

Last week, Ronaldo surprised Saudi youth players as they were given a tour of the plans for the 2034 World Cup. Despite this, Ronaldo has not posted a congratulatory message up to the Middle East country at the time of writing.

Saudi Arabia's successful bid for the World Cup has drawn criticism from certain quarters, with FIFA accused of allowing 'sportswashing'. This practice sees countries with questionable human rights records use sport to clean up their image on the world stage.

Qatar was accused of similar when they hosted the 2022 World Cup. That tournament was moved to the winter to avoid severe temperatures in the summer. It is not yet clear if Saudi Arabia will take similar steps to avoid the heat in the Middle East.