Article 160 of the Portuguese Football Federation’s disciplinary regulations has suddenly become the paragraph everyone in Lisbon is reading. It says a player who has been properly called up and then unjustifiably leaves national-team activities can be suspended for between one and six months, with professional players additionally fined between five and ten accounting units, a figure estimated at around €500 to €1,000 by Portuguese reporting.

No case has yet been opened. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has not announced disciplinary proceedings and has not confirmed any sanction. Whether Article 160 is triggered will depend on how the federation reads the single word that governs it: “unjustifiably”.

What is not in dispute is that the 41-year-old captain is no longer in Copenhagen. Ronaldo wrote on Instagram that he had decided to leave the camp “following the national team manager’s press conference, and after a conversation with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation”, and promised to tell Portuguese fans “the truth about the reasons behind my departure” at a later date.

FPF president Pedro Proença travelled to Denmark for an emergency meeting with Ronaldo and Jesus. Hours later, according to Spanish and Portuguese reporting, the captain boarded a private jet to Madrid.

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Jesus denied the rift. Then Ronaldo was gone

The departure came minutes after Jesus had stood in front of reporters and insisted nothing was wrong.

“He didn’t refuse. He’s going to train today,” Jesus said at his pre-match press conference, according to Al Jazeera.

“They forced me to talk to Cris about an issue that didn’t exist. There was nothing to talk about,” the coach added.

He also said Ronaldo had offered to accept any role.

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“He said, ‘I’m here for you to decide. If you want me to play, I’ll play. If you want me to go to the stands, I’ll go.’”

The backdrop is Sunday’s 2-1 Nations League win in Oslo. Ronaldo was benched, João Félix and Gonçalo Ramos started in attack, and both scored. The captain did not play a minute, skipped the next day’s team training, and was still absent from the group when Jesus made his denial on Wednesday.

Portugal face Denmark without their captain

Portugal and Denmark meet at Parken in Copenhagen on Thursday evening in a UEFA Nations League A fixture, kick-off at 8:45pm local time. Ronaldo, Portugal’s all-time top scorer with 146 goals in 234 caps, will not be in the squad.

For the FPF, the next step is procedural: open a disciplinary file, or not. Article 160 also allows an automatic provisional suspension while any case is handled, meaning a formal process begun this week could keep the captain out of a national-team shirt long before any final ruling.

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