Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez marry in secret Cascais ceremony with only their children present

The ceremony

Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, and Georgina Rodríguez, 32, married on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, in a civil ceremony in the Portuguese seaside town of Cascais, near Lisbon. The Brunswick Group, which manages the footballer's public relations, confirmed the event to AFP, describing it as a ceremony of "intimate and private character" attended only by the couple's five children: Cristiano Jr., 16, twins Eva and Mateo, 9, Alana Martina, 8, and Bella Esmeralda, 4. No extended family members or friends were present.

Ronaldo announced the marriage on Instagram with a photograph of the couple's hands bearing wedding rings, captioned with the letters "C" and "G" and a heart. The post accumulated more than 21.5 million likes, according to one report, and nearly 22 million according to another. The wedding took place exactly one year after Rodríguez had announced their engagement on Instagram.

Rumours and misdirection

For weeks, speculation had swirled about where and when the wedding would take place. Rumours first pointed to Lisbon, then to the Cathedral of Funchal on the island of Madeira, Ronaldo's birthplace. On Saturday, August 8, thousands of people gathered at the Funchal cathedral expecting the ceremony, only to be disappointed. The couple ultimately chose Cascais and kept the event secret until the Instagram announcement.

Family tensions

The exclusion of Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, and his sisters, Elma and Katia Aveiro, from the ceremony drew attention on Portuguese television. On the programme "Dois às 10," presenter Cristina Ferreira noted that Dolores Aveiro reacted to Ronaldo's Instagram post only 13 hours after it was published, leaving a heart emoji in the comments without sharing the post further. Ferreira observed that the matriarch and sisters, who routinely share content on social media, remained largely silent.

Katia Aveiro posted a video after the wedding speaking about life priorities, saying: "Choose for yourself. Don't feed toxic people in your life. Don't get sick because of others." Cláudio Ramos, co-presenting the programme, said he had received information about the family's reaction.

The only thing I will say, which is not me saying it, is information that I have. I cannot say who it is from. It is that they are furious.

Cristina Ferreira added that if Elma Aveiro were to speak publicly, it would be more direct than Katia's approach.

Fake images and online reaction

Hundreds of AI-generated images purporting to show the wedding circulated on social media, depicting Ronaldo and Rodríguez in various wedding attire and party settings. No photographs of the couple's actual appearance at the ceremony have been released. British journalist Piers Morgan was among those who shared a fake image, congratulating the couple while attaching an AI-generated photograph.

Ronaldo's return to Saudi Arabia

On August 12, Ronaldo was spotted at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport preparing to return to Saudi Arabia. According to SIC Notícias, luggage arrived first in a van, followed by Ronaldo with his eldest son, while Georgina Rodríguez travelled separately with the remaining children. When the footballer noticed the SIC camera crew, he reacted with smiles and called them "curious." Ronaldo will miss Al-Nassr's official season opener against Al-Fateh on Saturday as he returns to Riyadh.

A decade-long relationship

The marriage seals a relationship that began in 2016, when Ronaldo, then a Real Madrid star, walked into a Gucci store in Madrid where Rodríguez worked as a sales assistant. Rodríguez recounted the encounter in the Netflix documentary series "Soy Georgina," describing how she was asked to stay an extra half hour and then saw Ronaldo arrive. The couple first appeared publicly together in 2017 at the FIFA Best Awards. That same year, Ronaldo announced the birth of twins Eva and Mateo via surrogacy, and in November, Alana Martina was born, the couple's first child together. Their youngest, Bella Esmeralda, was born in 2022. The year 2026 marks a decade since they first met.