Ronaldo’s Full Statement:
“As promised, I have decided to explain, in the first person and directly, the circumstances surrounding the most recent Portugal national team camp.
After the 2026 World Cup, I prepared a letter to the Portuguese people, which I still have, containing the words I want to address to them when I definitively leave our national team.
At the end of the competition, on the flight back from the United States, the Federation President asked me, and insisted, that I reconsider my decision to leave because the FPF wanted me to continue.
Soon afterwards, he asked for my opinion about the name of the current national team coach, whom he was considering alongside other names that he did not reveal to me.
I told the Federation President that, in my opinion, he would be the right choice.
That is why, on the day the current coach was presented, I was genuinely happy with the decision. He was the right choice, as the results are proving.
A few days later, I received the first contact from the new national team coach saying that he wanted to meet me in person. I said yes and we arranged to meet at the end of my holidays.
We met at Cidade do Futebol, where my club was holding its pre-season training camp.
The coach told me that day that he was counting on me and that my presence was fundamental to his project. Right there, he presented me with a plan for my involvement. He told me that I would play the first match and the last, and that, for physical management reasons, he would always make three or four changes per match.
At that point, he raised the possibility of me not travelling with the national team to Norway and Denmark. He suggested that I play the first match and remain in Portugal, before rejoining the team ahead of the match at the Dragão.
I immediately rejected that proposal. It seemed obvious to me that I could not accept it. Not playing the away matches did not mean I would stop captaining our team. That privilege of staying in Portugal would not have set a good example.
The coach ultimately agreed with my assessment.
That conversation was witnessed by Simão Coutinho, Al Nassr’s sporting director, the person to whom the current national team coach reported throughout last season and one of those responsible for bringing him to the club in 2025.
On the eve of the start of the national team camp, the coach came to my house in Lisbon, at his request, to have another conversation with me. The conversation was calm and all the principles we had agreed upon in August were maintained.
I played the match at Alvalade and, despite being substituted, I made no issue of it. I personally handed the captain’s armband to Bruno Fernandes, never imagining that I might have been taking my final steps as a player and captain of the national team.
The important thing for me that day was our victory. Winning is always good. Winning in Portugal and for my country is even better.
At lunchtime on the day of the match in Norway, one of the coach’s assistants came to the table where the squad was eating and informed me that the coach wanted to speak to me.
To my absolute surprise, the coach asked me whether I was fit enough to play 30 minutes.
I was completely focused on my physical recovery, integrated with my teammates as always, and thinking that I would not play that day. I had no problem with that.
This request was outside my physical recovery and training plan, because I was only supposed to play on the 4th at the Dragão, but obviously I said yes.
He replied that I should be ready because I would play 30 minutes.
Everyone knows what happened next.
I warmed up from half-time onwards, watched the minutes go by and was never called upon.
The coach had gone back on his word.
At the end of the match, all I wanted was for everything to end with a victory and to be alone.
I did not go over to acknowledge the supporters.
That was a mistake for which I alone am responsible and it should not have happened.
I apologise to the Portuguese fans who supported us so passionately there, I apologise to the supporters, and I apologise to those who may not even be Portuguese but travelled there to see me and whom I may have disappointed.
Forty-eight hours later, we had a conversation involving myself, the coach and Simão Coutinho, since he had been present during our discussions in August.
It was a deep and very direct conversation, without any filters whatsoever.
We agreed that there was only one way to close this ‘case’: the coach would repeat publicly, in the press room, what he had just told me privately in the presence of Simão Coutinho.
What we agreed was simple.
The coach would begin the press conference by addressing this subject and try to put the matter to rest by telling the truth.
He would say that I had never asked to play any minutes, that it was the coach and nobody else who had proposed the plan for me during this camp, and that it had been a mistake to send me out to warm up and then not bring me on, and that if the same situation happened again he would not do it.
We ended that meeting with the coach asking me for a hug, promising me that he would say at the press conference what he had just told me, and that the matter would be put behind us.
I would not play in Denmark and I would play the match at the Dragão.
All of this was always in the presence of Simão Coutinho.
At the coach’s request, another meeting then took place involving him, Simão Coutinho and Tiago Craveiro via video conference, during which what we had discussed was summarised.
A short document was prepared, which I personally approved and which, with my knowledge, was handed to the coach, just as he had requested.
The press conference was what everyone saw.
His attitude had nothing to do with our meeting. I heard expressions and an aggressiveness that I do not believe I deserved, an attitude of ‘I want it, I can do it and I call the shots’ that he had never shown me, not even remotely, in private the previous day.
The notes I approved were the following:
1. I think it is important, because it is the truth, to clarify a few things before talking about Denmark.
2. I personally, without anyone else, proposed a plan to Cristiano for this season with the national team. It was a long and very good conversation.
3. I know how deeply he feels about and loves the national team, and the importance he has around the world, and even more importantly, the positive influence and importance he has had within the national team for 24 consecutive years.
4. The plan I proposed to Cristiano was accepted.
5. He never questioned my decisions. He was exemplary, loyal and professional.
6. The Norway match was not part of the plan I had drawn up for him. However, I felt that he had managed to recover physically from the first match and I informed him that I might need to use him. Cristiano agreed.
7. I made a mistake by asking someone of the stature of Pelé or Maradona to warm up and then not bringing him onto the pitch. If it happened today, I would not do it.
8. To close the matter: I want Cristiano in the national team. In fact, I don’t just want him a little, I want him very much. Fortunately, he also believes in me. He believed in me at Al Nassr and he believes in me here too.
Regarding him not acknowledging the supporters, we have already spoken about it.
Someone who has played more than 230 matches for the national team does not need lessons from me about loving Portugal.
It was a moment of frustration that erases nothing.
He is the player who gives the most autographs, takes the most selfies and shows the most affection towards the supporters.
Let’s not invent problems where they do not exist.
When we are unhappy, we react.
That was all.”
None of those notes, therefore, even said that the coach should apologise to me.
It was the second time that he had failed to keep his word to me.
I decided to leave the camp without waiting for another promise to be broken.
For me, the truth is still the most important thing in relationships between people.
No matter how much it hurts, I want people to tell me the truth.
In fact, during a conversation I had with the FPF President and the coach on the morning of that press conference, they can certainly confirm that I once again told them that if they did not want me there, they should simply tell me.
All they had to do was be honest with me.
I would accept it, and I promised that we would prepare something beautiful, as I dream of happening, and nobody would be angry.
I remember it as if it were today.
They both replied at the same time: no.
They said my place was in the national team.
Never, at any point, have I interfered in any technical or tactical decision made by any coach or national team coach during almost 25 years of my career.
I accept, for better or worse, whatever I am asked to do.
I respect the decision, but when people break their word to me, I feel that my place is no longer there.
I also owe an apology to my national team teammates for leaving the camp.
Despite the complete breakdown of trust in the coach’s word, as those who witnessed these conversations can testify, I should not have done it.
The responsibility is mine alone.
I apologise to the Portuguese people once again, but breaking one’s word has a defining impact on me.
I felt that, from that point onwards, my continued presence would only harm the working environment within the group and I did what I have always said I would do if I no longer felt useful: I packed my bags and left.
The consequences of this action of mine must be assessed and punished by the Portuguese Football Federation.
I understand that the punishment should have no mitigating circumstances.
I am not just any player, I am the team captain and that is an aggravating factor.
I have already apologised, but I know that actions must have consequences.
Anyone who has been in football as long as I have knows that, regardless of anyone’s status, the rules are the same for everyone.
On this subject, I have heard a great deal of talk about farewell matches, that I need to have a dignified farewell and that the Federation wants to give me that opportunity.
I learned in life, having often experienced hunger and having nothing to eat, that nobody gives anybody anything.
I can promise all my fans, naturally and especially all Portuguese people, that we will have one or more farewell matches.
There will be time for that.
But when I think about the national team, what I really think about is competing.
That is what I thought about on the day I received the news of my father’s death.
I was away with our national team and I decided to remain there until the match the following day was over.
I did for my country what I would never have done for any club.
Therefore, if I am physically fit, playing for my club and hopefully scoring goals, then after serving whatever suspension is imposed on me, I will be available, as I have always been until today, to compete and win for our national team.
This, believe me, is the purest truth.
Cristiano Ronaldo
6 October 2026
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