The federation also gave few details, saying only that Ronaldo left the training camp and the rest of the team would remain focused on the game against Denmark.<\/p>\n
There was already a new holder of Ronaldo\u2019s famous No. 7 jersey, with Rafael Le\u00e3o set to wear it. Because of UEFA rules, Portugal had to assign the number to another player after Ronaldo left the roster. Other players have worn the No. 7 in Ronaldo’s absence in the past.<\/p>\n
In Portugal, the news of Ronaldo’s departure fueled speculation that the country’s biggest sporting star, who had already hinted that this is his last season in football, would not play again for the national team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this the end?\u201d read Thursday’s front-page headline of the JM newspaper based in Ronaldo’s native Madeira.<\/p>\n
\u201cA sad farewell,\u201d the Portuguese sports paper A Bola said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCR7 turns his back on the national team,\u201d read the headline on the O Jogo newspaper.<\/p>\n
Portuguese media also reported that Portugal Prime Minister Lu\u00eds Montenegro got involved in the situation, having talked individually to Ronaldo, Jesus and football federation president Pedro Proen\u00e7a.<\/p>\n
![\"Portugal's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/portugals-cristiano-ronaldo-celebrates-after-scoring-the-ope-LDPYR5XUFBFSXE2SCARLSAAA2A.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup Group K match between Portugal and Uzbekistan in Houston. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Possible suspension for Ronaldo?<\/p>\n
Regardless of Ronaldo’s and the federation’s decisions going forward, the star player could possibly face a harsh punishment for leaving the training camp.<\/p>\n
The federation’s disciplinary regulations say that any player who \u201cabandons or fails to appear\u201d without justification at a training session, match or activity of the national teams, or any activity related to representing the federation, \u201cshall be sanctioned with a suspension of one to six months,\u201d in addition to a fine.<\/p>\n
It says the \u201cabsence or abandonment shall result in the player\u2019s automatic preventive suspension”. <\/p>\n
Ronaldo did tell the federation that he was leaving, but it wasn’t clear whether the decision would be considered justified in accordance with the federation’s regulations.<\/p>\n
Next steps for the Portugal star<\/p>\n
Ronaldo reportedly traveled to Madrid, his home for many years while playing for Real Madrid and where he usually stays when not playing with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
His social media post offered few hints about what’s next.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing the national team coach\u2019s news conference, and after a conversation with the president of the Portuguese football federation, I decided to leave the national team\u2019s training camp,\u201d Ronaldo said.<\/p>\n
He ended his message by saying that \u201cnow is the time to wish good luck to Portugal and to all my teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many had been expecting Ronaldo to retire from the national team after the World Cup. And while confirmed he wouldn’t appear at another World Cup, he vowed to continue playing and pursuing the milestone of 1,000 career goals. He currently stands at 979, with an international men’s record of 146 goals coming for Portugal.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo recently said that this Saudi Pro League season is likely to be the last of his professional career. Al-Nassr\u2019s next match is Oct. 9.<\/p>\n
![\"Portugal's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/portugals-cristiano-ronaldo-starts-on-the-bench-during-a-nat-WIGEHA3ZPZCOFB4236CZBFVHBQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo starts on the bench during a Nations League soccer match between between Norway and Portugal, in Oslo, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026 (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Coach dismisses talk of a feud with Ronaldo<\/p>\n
Jesus, who coached Ronaldo at Al-Nassr last season when they won the Saudi Arabian league title together, took over from Roberto Mart\u00ednez after Portugal’s round-of-16 elimination at the World Cup. He said Wednesday in the pre-game news conference that he was not planning to start Ronaldo in the Nations League match against Denmark. But he dismissed the notion there was a feud between him and Ronaldo, and said the player told him that he would accept any decision he would make.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like there was an issue between us, but there was no issue,\u201d Jesus said before Ronaldo announced his decision to leave.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo didn’t play Sunday in Portugal\u2019s 2-1 win over Norway. He hadn’t trained with the rest of the group since, sparking widespread rumors about a possible spat with Jesus. The coach said Ronaldo would practice normally on Wednesday, but he ended up deciding to leave.<\/p>\n
Jesus acknowledged that someone with the stature of Ronaldo deserved a different type of attention from coaches, but emphasised that the \u201crules are the same for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus admitted that he told Ronaldo that he would play at least a few minutes against Norway, but changed his mind because of the game’s circumstances. He said he’s the one making the team choices and “no player will ever make a decision for me”.<\/p>\n
He said it was a mistake to send Ronaldo to warm up for as long as he did, and then not use him against Norway. Jesus added that \u201cany player\u201d would be upset about that.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo started in Portugal\u2019s 1-0 win over Wales last Thursday but was substituted in the 67th minute. On Tuesday, he posted on Instagram a photo of him wearing the kit accompanied by the country\u2019s flag and a heart emoji.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a serious incident south of Auckland, fiery protests in France, and a jump off Auckland\u2019s tallest residential tower. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s abrupt decision to leave Portugal\u2019s training camp after an apparent rift with coach Jorge Jesus has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213,1745],"class_list":["post-618200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}