BREAKING: Cristiano Ronaldo Wants Portugal Punishment But Not Retiring From International Football
Cristiano Ronaldo says he is not retiring from international football but deserves to be punished for walking out on Portugal for a “breach of the coach’s trust”.
The 41-year-old captain left his country’s Nations League camp after being an unused substitute against Norway and then finding out he would not start against Denmark.
Al-Nassr forward Ronaldo has scored 146 goals in 234 Portugal appearances – both world records – helping them win Euro 2016 and the Nations League twice.
In a lengthy statement, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United player said he should be held accountable for his actions.
“The Portuguese Football Federation must assess the consequences of my actions and punish me for them. I believe the punishment should not be reduced,” Ronaldo said.
“I have already apologised, but I know that actions have consequences.”
Portugal manager Jorge Jesus said on Sunday that the door was still open for Ronaldo to play for the country’s national team.
Ronaldo said that, provided he was “physically fit, playing with my team, and hopefully scoring goals”, he would like to continue to play international football.
“After my suspension period ends, I will be available, as I always have been, to compete and win with our national team,” he added.
Ronaldo’s full statement is reproduced below:
As I promised, I decided to recount, in the first person and directly, the circumstances surrounding the latest stage of the national team’s journey.
After the 2026 World Cup, I prepared a message for the Portuguese people, which I still keep, containing the words I would like to address to them when I leave our team for good.
At the end of the tournament, on the flight back from the United States, the president of the federation asked me and insisted that I reconsider my decision to leave, because the Portuguese Football Federation wished for me to continue.
Immediately afterwards, he asked me for my opinion on the name of the current national team coach, whom he was considering, alongside other names he did not reveal to me.
I answered the president of the federation that, in my opinion, he would be the ideal choice. So, on the day the current national team coach was presented, I was truly happy with this choice. It was the right choice, as the results prove.
A few days later, I received the first call from the new national team coach, in which he said he wished to meet me in person. I answered in the affirmative, and we set a date for it. “The end of my holiday.”
We met at the City of Football, where my team was holding its pre-season training camp.
The coach told me that day that he was counting on me and that my presence was essential to his project. He presented me with a plan for me to feature straight away. He said I would play the first and last matches, and that he would make three or four changes in each game for fitness reasons.
At that point, he suggested that I not travel with the national team to Norway and Denmark. He suggested that I play the first match and stay in Portugal, then join them before the match at the Estádio do Dragão.
I rejected this suggestion immediately. It seemed clear to me that I could not accept it. Not playing the matches abroad would not mean I would not be the captain of our team. The privilege of staying in Portugal would not set a good example.
In the end, the coach agreed with my analysis.
This conversation was attended by Simo Coutinho, the sporting director of Al-Nassr, the person to whom the current national team coach had been reporting throughout last season, and one of those responsible for his joining the club in 2025.
On the eve of the training camp, the coach came to my home in Lisbon to have another conversation with me at his request. The conversation was calm, and we adhered to all the principles agreed upon in August. I played the match at the Estádio do Alvalade, and despite being substituted, I caused no problems. I personally placed the captain’s armband on Bruno Fernandes, and it never crossed my mind that I might be taking my final steps as a player and captain of the national team. The most important thing that day, for me, was that we won. Winning is always a good thing, and in Portugal, and for my country, it is the best.
At lunchtime on the day of the match in Norway, the national team’s assistant coach came to the table where the team was having lunch, and told me that the coach wanted to speak with me. To my great surprise, the coach asked me whether I was ready to play 30 minutes. I was completely focused on my physical recovery, integrated with my teammates as usual, and believing that I would not play that day. No problem at all.
This request was outside my physical recovery and training plan, because I was only going to play on the fourth of the month at the Estádio do Dragão, but of course I agreed. He replied to me that I should be ready because I was going to play 30 minutes.
And the rest is known. I started warming up from half-time, watched the minutes pass, and no one called on me. The coach broke his promise.
At the end of the match, I just wanted everything to end with a win and to be alone. I did not go to salute the fans. A mistake for which I bear sole responsibility, and which should not have happened. I apologise to the Portuguese people who supported us so passionately there, I apologise to the fans, and I apologise to those who travelled there to see me, even if they were not Portuguese, and whom I may have let down.
Forty-eight hours later, we had a conversation, myself, the coach and Simo Coutinho, because he had been following our conversations in August.
It was a deep and extremely frank moment, without any reservation.
We agreed that there was only one way to end this “case”: for the coach to repeat what he had just told me in private, in the presence of Simo Coutinho, but in the press conference room.
The agreement was simple: the coach would begin the press conference with this subject, trying to end the matter by telling the truth. He would say that I had never asked to play even for a few minutes, that the coach alone, no one else, was the one who had proposed the plan for this training camp, that it had been a mistake to subject me only to warming up without playing, and that if it happened again, he would not do it.
We ended that meeting with the coach asking me for a hug, and he promised me that he would say in the press conference what he had just said to me, and that the matter had been resolved. I would not play in Denmark, but I would play in the Dragão match. All of this took place in the presence of Simo Coutinho, as usual.
At the coach’s request, a video meeting was held between him, Simo Coutinho and Tiago Craveiro, to summarise what we had discussed.
A brief document was prepared, which I personally approved, and it was handed to the coach at his request.
The meeting was as expected: the conduct had nothing to do with our meeting. I heard expressions and aggression that I consider unjustified, and an attitude suggesting “he wants, he can, and he orders” that he had never shown me, not even indirectly, in a private session, the day before.
The notes I reviewed were as follows: “I think it is important, because it is the truth, to clarify some matters before talking about Denmark:
- I personally proposed a plan to Cristiano, without anyone else, for this sporting season with the national team. It was a long and very fruitful conversation.
- I know how much he loves the national team and his global standing, and even more so, how positive his impact on the national team has been over 24 consecutive years.
- The plan I proposed to Cristiano was accepted.
- He never questioned my choices. He was an example to be followed, loyal, and professional.
- The Norway match was not included in the plan I set out for him. However, I felt that he had physically recovered from the first match, and I warned him that I might have to involve him. Cristiano agreed.
- I made a mistake by involving a player of the stature of Pelé or Maradona only in the warm-up without involving him in the match. If it were today, I would not do that.”
- In short: I want Cristiano in the national team. In truth, I do not want a little, but a lot. And fortunately, he too trusts me. He believed in me at Al-Nassr and here too.
- As for not saluting the fans, we spoke about this matter before. A player who has played more than 230 matches with the national team does not receive lessons from me on loving Portugal. It was a moment of frustration that erases nothing. He is the player who signs more than anyone else, who takes the most selfies, and who shows the most affection to the fans. Let us not invent problems out of nothing. When we are not happy, we react. That is all there is to it.