AFCON 2025
Portugal’s World Cup campaign will feature Cristiano Ronaldo from the start after FIFA commuted his red card suspension.
The forward, recently a guest of President Donald Trump at the White House, was initially facing a three-match ban for violent conduct following his dismissal during Portugal’s shock defeat to the Republic of Ireland on November 13th.
Ronaldo, 40, was sent off for striking defender Dara O’Shea with an elbow—his first red card in 226 senior international matches.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee reduced the ban to an immediate one-game suspension, with the remaining two matches suspended under one year’s probation. Since Ronaldo sat out Portugal’s final qualifier against Armenia last week, the suspension has, in effect, been served.
The FIFA Disciplinary Code usually mandates a minimum three-match ban for assault (Article 27 allows the judicial committee to partially suspend the measure).
The FIFA statement clarified the condition: “If Cristiano Ronaldo commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension set out in the disciplinary decision shall be deemed automatically revoked, and the remaining two matches must be served immediately…”
