Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo lost his cool Thursday in World Cup qualifying, and it could cost him time at his final World Cup this summer in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Ronaldo, 40, was shown a red card in Portugal’s 2-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, a controversial sending-off that came after VAR reviewed an incident with Ipswich Town defender Dara O’Shea inside the box.
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Ronaldo will miss Portugal’s final World Cup qualifier on Sunday, with the nation in the driver’s seat to automatically qualify — a win puts them into the 2026 World Cup and a number of combinations could put the group leaders in Europe without the need for further qualifiers.
But FIFA rules say the leading male international goal scorer may face supplemental discipline due to the nature of his foul, triggering one or two more games to his ban and potentially keeping him from Portugal’s first two group games at the World Cup.
Portugal boss Roberto Martinez will join his star in arguing that the offense doesn’t rise to that of supplemental discipline for assault — and Ronaldo’s star may have his action adjudicated in a special manner — but the wording of the rule makes it tricky.
Cristiano Ronaldo red card vs Ireland: What did Portugal star do?
Portugal were already trailing 2-0 but had a free kick in a promising area when Ronaldo was jockeying for position with Ireland back O’Shea. Ronaldo took umbrage with O’Shea’s hands to his back and threw his elbow between the Irish defender’s shoulder blades.
O’Shea hit the deck and Ronaldo was shown a yellow card, then pantomiming the shove to referee Glenn Nyberg and balling his fists around his eyes at the defender to mimic tears.
The Video Assistant Referee was Pol van Boekel. He sent Nyberg to the pitch side monitor where the offense was upgraded to a red.
How could Cristiano Ronaldo be suspended from the World Cup?
FIFA’s Disciplinary Code says that a player will face a ban of up to three games if they are sent off for “assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting or hitting an opponent.”
It’s certainly an elbow, though the word assault seems to be some wiggle room for leaders hoping to show leniency to Ronaldo.
The first game will be the Armenia qualifier. Portugal lead Hungary by two points atop Group F with 10 points going into the final match day and they are heavily-favored to dispatch Armenia at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto. Hungary face the Republic of Ireland, now three points behind Portugal, at the same time.
A Portugal loss would open the door to Hungary or Ireland to win Group F. Hungary could also seize a World Cup bid if Portugal draw and Hungary beat Ireland by at least three goals while scoring at least two more goals than Portugal score vs Armenia.
If that happened, Portugal would drop into second place in Group F and need to win two more World Cup qualifying elimination games this Spring to reach this summer’s tournament.
When will Cristiano Ronaldo learn of World Cup qualifying suspension?
The Associated Press’ Graham Dunbar says Ronaldo faces a wait to learn his punishment.
Dunbar says Ronaldo could face a 2-3 game ban — two does seem like a good hedge for FIFA, if we’re allowed to opine here — and that FIFA has usually taken around three weeks to issue supplemental disciplinary verdicts in the past.
How many career red cards have been shown to Cristiano Ronaldo?
Martinez has argue that Ronaldo should not face punishment in part due to an exceptional international disciplinary record — the Al Nassr star had never been sent off in a Portugal shirt.
Ronaldo has, however, been sent off 12 times in his club career: four for Manchester United, six for Real Madrid, one for Juventus, and — most recently — in his 2023-24 season in Saudi Arabia.
