More than a decade has passed since Cristiano Ronaldo last played a football match in the United States.But that is set to change on Wednesday afternoon in Houston, Texas, when Portugal get their World Cup campaign underway against DR Congo.Ronaldo, 41, is arguably the most famous soccer player on the planet and is likely playing in his final World Cup before he retires from football (although the 2030 men’s World Cup is taking place in Spain, Morocco and Portugal so we should never assume anything).Yet, despite his global appeal and obvious commercial impact, the Portugal international has not played a game on American soil since August 2, 2014 — 4,332 days and counting — with either his national team, Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United or his current club, Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr.Portugal beat the U.S. 2-0 in a friendly at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in March, but Ronaldo was missing again.The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was left out of Roberto Martinez’s squad for the U.S. game and a second match against Mexico in Mexico City after Al Nassr head coach Jorge Jesus said he had travelled to Spain to undergo treatment for a hamstring injury.Ronaldo has visited the U.S. since 2014, most notably when he attended a black-tie dinner at the White House in November, but has rarely been publicly photographed and has never played a match. The Athletic explains Ronaldo’s complicated relationship with the U.S. and why he hasn’t always enjoyed positive headlines in America…When did Ronaldo last play in the United States? The International Champions Cup tie on August 2, 2014 saw Ronaldo’s Real Madrid lose 3-1 to his former club, Manchester United.Ronaldo started on the bench but came on as a second-half substitute.The game took place in front of a record crowd of 109,318 fans at Michigan Stadium, which remains the largest single-game attendance figure in the U.S..But he attended an event at the White House recently, didn’t he?Yes. Ronaldo was alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, as well as other business leaders at a black-tie dinner in November.President Trump name-checked Ronaldo during his opening remarks and revealed how he had introduced him to his son, Barron.Cristiano Ronaldo at a White House dinner in November (Anna Rose Layden/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)“My son is a big fan of Ronaldo — wherever Ronaldo is here,” Trump said at the event. “And Barron got to meet him, and I think he respects his father a little bit more now, just the fact that I introduced you.”President Trump then thanked Ronaldo for attending the event.So where does this story start?In the summer of 2009 Ronaldo took a trip to Las Vegas — weeks before his transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid — with his brother-in-law and cousin.They were staying in a suite at the Palms Place Hotel and, on the evening of June 12, Ronaldo, then aged 24, met a former school teacher called Kathryn Mayorga in a nightclub called Rain.Mayorga, then 25 and a model, alleged that she and a friend were invited by Ronaldo to come back to his hotel suite, where she then claimed she was raped by him in a bedroom — allegations he has always strenuously denied.When she first went to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) to file a complaint the following day, Mayorga decided against naming Ronaldo or the location of the alleged rape.In January 2010, Mayorga reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo’s lawyers — the footballer was not present at mediation — and received $375,000 in return for agreeing never to go public with the accusations, and for the settlement not to be viewed as an admission of guilt.What happened next?In 2017, Mayorga hired a new legal team and the allegation of rape was made public, prompting the Las Vegas Police to reopen the case and issue a warrant for a DNA sample from Ronaldo in January.Ronaldo’s legal team described this as a “very standard request” and, six months later, it was determined that he would not face charges of sexual assault.Mayorga and her legal team continued to pursue Ronaldo for damages and Ronaldo continued to deny the allegations made against him.In October 2018 he posted a statement on Twitter — now X — that read: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. “Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.”What is the latest?The civil case is no longer active after a U.S. District Court permanently dismissed it in June 2022, with U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey saying Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, had harmed Ronaldo by acting in “bad faith” and by using “purloined” confidential documents.A federal appeals court dismissed Mayorga’s appeal, and Stovall was ordered to pay Ronaldo more than $330,000 in legal fees.Anything else I need to know?Ronaldo is only eligible to play in Portugal’s World Cup opener because FIFA’s disciplinary committee opted to suspend the final two games of his three-match suspension after he was sent off in Portugal’s penultimate World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.The forward was sent off on November 13, 2025, for swinging an elbow at defender Dara O’Shea in an off-the-ball incident. He was initially shown a yellow card, but this was upgraded to a red after the video assistant referee (VAR) recommended a pitch-side review, meaning Ronaldo risked missing Portugal’s World Cup opener through suspension.In a further twist, the FIFA committee decided to extend his automatic one-game ban to three matches but suspend the final two “under a one-year probation period”, meaning he will avoid missing any further fixtures provided he does not commit “another infringement of a similar nature”.So the scene is set for Ronaldo to play again on U.S. soil at Houston’s NRG Stadium on June 17.When do Portugal play?Group K fixtures….June 17: Portugal vs Congo DR, Houston (1pm ET, 6pm BST)