Portugal suspend Cristiano Ronaldo after walking out on national team

Federation opens disciplinary proceedings

Veteran has been critical of coach Jorge Jesus

Cristiano Ronaldo has been provisionally suspended as the Portuguese football federation (FPF) opened disciplinary proceedings against the 41-year-old after his decision to walk out on the national team.

Ronaldo apologised to supporters on Tuesday while criticising the Portugal coach, Jorge Jesus, and said he would serve any “suspension that is imposed” on him.

“Disciplinary ​proceedings have been initiated against Cristiano ‌Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, following ‌a decision by the non-professional section on 9 October 2026,” the FPF said in ‌a statement released on Saturday.

Ronaldo gave his ⁠account of the dispute ⁠that prompted his ​departure from Copenhagen before Portugal’s Nations League match against Denmark last week.

Ronaldo said Jesus had agreed a plan under which the forward would ⁠miss the Norway and Denmark matches to manage his fitness. However, on the day of the Norway game, the coach told him he would play for 30 ⁠minutes.

“Everyone knows the rest. I warmed up from half-time onwards, watched the minutes tick by and wasn’t called ​on,” Ronaldo said. “The manager had broken his ‌word to me.”

In the games where Ronaldo was either an unused substitute or absent, Portugal won all three and his replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, seized his chance by scoring three times. Portugal’s next Nations League games will come against Denmark and Wales in November.

Ronaldo ended the international break with a long post to his 679 million followers on Instagram, where he asked Jesus to acknowledge a mistake in asking him to warm up on the sidelines and then not send him on the field against Norway. The Portugal coach did not acknowledge any mistake.

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Ronaldo wrote that he expected a suspension under federation rules but promised his fans “we will have one or more farewell matches.” He has already returned to his club team, Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, and scored in a 3-0 victory over Diriyah on Friday.