Cristiano Ronaldo received a straight red card for an elbow to Dara O’Shea’s back during Portugal’s 2-0 qualifying defeat earlier this month - Getty Images/David FitzgeraldSam WallaceWed, November 26, 2025 at 7:30 AM UTC·4 min readThere have been World Cup hosting cycles re-engineered, the football calendar torn up and, last summer, a 10-day bespoke transfer window that popped up in June – so did anyone think that it would be a problem for Fifa to cut Cristiano Ronaldo’s ban?
Under Gianni Infantino the world governing body has chiefly operated on the time-honoured principle of “do what we like”. Thus, there was always a way that Infantino’s disciplinary department could claim discretion to cut the tariff for his elbow swing at Dara O’Shea – and there it was in Article 27 of the disciplinary code. The Fifa judicial committee can adjust a three-match ban for violent conduct as it sees fit.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRonaldo, even at the age of 41 come next summer, will be crucial to the cut-through of the 2026 World Cup finals in the biggest economy in the world. Fifa needs 2026 to be a commercial success and, in a nation that will require big names to embrace a sport that is not as close to the mainstream as others, Ronaldo will be critical. That was why Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami were crowbarred into this summer’s Fifa Club World Cup – Messi made it an easier sell to a sceptical US public.
Is it fair? Of course not – but in the battle to stage the biggest and most lucrative World Cup finals, fairness is not Fifa’s chief concern. That he turned up at the White House this month underlines Ronaldo’s commitment to Fifa, and Infantino – who edged into the famous selfie the man himself took of various recognisable faces including his own. The explanation coming from Fifa sources that Ronaldo should be treated differently because it was the first red card of his Portugal career only insults the football public’s intelligence.
Ronaldo was a recent guest with Fifa president Gianni Infantino at the White House - Reuters/DavidSacks XWayne Rooney’s infamous stamp on the tender parts of Ricardo Carvalho in England’s 2006 World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal – in which Ronaldo famously played his part – meant that he missed England’s first two Euro 2008 qualifiers. It was the same when he picked up a foolish red card against Montenegro in Euro 2012 qualifying and was suspended for the first two group games of the tournament.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was right that he was – and he accepted his punishment. Famous though he was then, even Rooney could not expect to be treated differently, but how times change.
Fifa discretion lets Ronaldo off the hook
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Cristiano Ronaldo has been handed a surprise World Cup reprieve after Fifa suspended part of his ban for a violent conduct red card.
The 40-year-old, a recent guest with Gianni Infantino at the White House, had been expected to miss at least Portugal’s opener in the United States next year. He had received a straight red for an elbow to Dara O’Shea’s back during Portugal’s 2-0 qualifying defeat earlier this month.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementViolent conduct normally carries a three-match ban, but Fifa said in a statement that the second and third matches had been suspended for a year.
Fifa’s disciplinary rules state that any red card will carry a one-match ban, which ruled Ronaldo out of Portugal’s final qualifier against Armenia.
The announcement comes just days after Ronaldo was a star guest at a gala dinner with Donald Trump and the Fifa president in Washington.
Governing body sources maintained the effective reduced ban was because it was his first international red card of his long career. He has been sent off 12 times in club matches. The last England player to receive a straight red card was Raheem Sterling in a 2014 World Cup warm-up match. He only received a one-match ban for a reckless challenge on Antonio Valencia. Bans only cover competitive matches, not pre-tournament friendlies.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFifa’s disciplinary code determines that a player should serve “at least three matches or an appropriate period of time for assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting or hitting an opponent or a person other than a match official”. Under Article 27 of the code, however, the Fifa judicial committee which decides upon disciplinary sanctions has the option to “fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure”.
A Fifa statement said: “In line with Article 27 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, the serving of the two remaining matches has been suspended under a one-year probation period. 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 at the next official match(es) of the Portuguese representative team. This is without prejudice to any additional sanctions imposed for the new infringement.”
The suspension is subject to appeal to the Fifa appeal committee.
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