Ronaldo’s suspension will have expired by the time Portugal next take the field. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) sanctioned the 41-year-old captain with a 30-day ban that began on 1 October, the day after he walked out of the national team camp, and Portugal do not play again until 14 November, when they host Denmark in Braga.
He will not miss a single match.
The 41-year-old was banned for leaving camp during the international window after Portugal’s 2-1 win over Norway, in which he was an unused substitute. He accused head coach Jorge Jesus of promising to bring him on and then changing his mind, which he described as a breach of trust. Jesus denied any such promise had ever been made.
“Without mitigation”, then three mitigations
Ronaldo told the FPF disciplinary council that he should be punished “without mitigating circumstances” and said his role as captain was an “aggravating factor”, according to the Irish Times.
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His legal team then presented three arguments to soften the sanction: his disciplinary record this season and across the previous three, his services to football including five Ballon d’Or wins, the 2016 European Championship and two Nations League titles, and his cooperation in establishing the facts of the case.
The council accepted the services-and-achievements argument and halved both suspension and fine. It then halved the punishment a second time, because Ronaldo had “accepted responsibility for his actions”.
What began as a demand for the harshest available sentence ended as a sanction small enough to be paid in loose change, in a window with no games to miss.
What happened in Denmark
The row at Portugal’s camp near Copenhagen on 30 September came after Jesus held a press conference reasserting that he, and not his captain, picked the team. Ronaldo asked for transport to the airport and phoned FPF president Pedro Proença to say he was not in the right frame of mind to stay.
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He was found by the inquiry to have “intentionally committed an offence under Article 160(1)” of federation regulations, the National reported, and missed more than 30 team activities between 30 September and 4 October.
The €255 fine (around $285) is the standard amount set out in FPF regulations.
Back for Denmark and Wales
The decision was announced on 19 October, by which point Ronaldo had already served 19 days of a provisional suspension. The remaining 11 days fell inside an international match-free window.
Proença said after the ruling that “everyone within the federation wanted Ronaldo to return to the national team once the matter was resolved”. Jesus has publicly left the door open for his captain’s return.
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Portugal lead Nations League Group A4 with 12 points. Kick-off against Denmark at the Estádio Municipal de Braga is at 7:45pm local time on Saturday, 14 November, before Portugal travel to Cardiff City Stadium three days later to face Wales.
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