Portuguese Football Federation Suspends Cristiano Ronaldo for Walking Out on National Team

Thirty days of suspension and a fine of 255 euros. That's the price the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) put on Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration after he packed his bags and left the national team's training camp ahead of a UEFA Nations League match against Denmark.

The trouble had been brewing for a while. In the match against Norway in Oslo on September 27, Ronaldo spent much of the game warming up on the sideline without head coach Jorge Jesus ever bringing him on. According to Ronaldo himself, he warmed up for half an hour for nothing, and that was the last straw. Three days later, on September 30, he left camp before the match against Denmark, accusing the coach of not honoring what he'd promised him about playing time.

The real issue, according to the FPF's Disciplinary Council, is that Ronaldo didn't notify anyone before leaving. Not the team official in charge, not the Federation itself. He simply left. He did later speak with Federation president Pedro Proença, but only after he'd already packed his bags.

He did not communicate or justify in advance, to the official in charge of the FPF or the national team, his intention to leave the camp.FPF Disciplinary Committee

What Ronaldo did tell Proença was that he wasn't "in the right state of mind to stay with the group" at that moment. A statement that sums up pretty well the frustration the Portuguese captain had been carrying since what happened in Oslo.

The lightest sanction available

FPF regulations allow for punishments ranging from one to six months for this kind of incident, though in this case the maximum was reduced to three months because Ronaldo, 41, acknowledged his responsibility for what happened. In the end, the Federation went with the minimum penalty: thirty days.

And here's the part that really matters to Portuguese fans: since the suspension automatically began on September 30, Ronaldo has already served 19 days of the ban. He has just 11 days left, so the calendar is working in his favor.

That means the forward, who now plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia after his stint at Real Madrid, will be available in time for Portugal's upcoming Nations League matches: against Denmark, fittingly, and then against Wales, scheduled for November 14 and 17. Both the captain and the head coach have suggested there's no permanent rift, quite the opposite: the door remains open for Ronaldo to wear the Portuguese jersey again on those two dates.