The Portuguese football federation has reportedly devised a three-pronged argument as part of an appeal to limit Cristiano Ronaldo’s international ban to just one fixture.
Ronaldo was dismissed for the first time in his international career against the Republic of Ireland last Thursday. After initially receiving a yellow card for catching Dara O’Shea with a stray elbow, Portugal’s captain had it upgraded to a red by referee Glenn Nyberg following consultation with the pitch-side monitor.
The ban for violent conduct is typically three matches and stretches across all competitive international fixtures. Having sat out Sunday’s historic thumping of Armenia which confirmed his nation’s World Cup qualification, Ronaldo could be staring down the barrel of sitting out the tournament’s first two group games.
National team boss Roberto Martínez promptly rushed to his skipper’s defense, and the body that oversees Portuguese soccer has laid out a detailed argument in their feverish attempts to exonerate their tantrum-throwing talisman, per A BOLA.
1. Hostile Dublin Environment
The first pillar in the argument made by the Portuguese FA is the “hostile environment” created by the Dublin crowd and Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson.
The first half of this defense was undermined prematch when Ronaldo openly called for the partisan support to boo him. “I’m used to it,” he shrugged.
Hallgrímsson’s influence is a little more complex.
The Icelandic coach alleged before the match that Ronaldo had “controlled the referee” when the two nations last met and found the Portuguese captain making a beeline for him after he was shown a red card.
“He complimented me for putting pressure on the referee,” Hallgrímsson laughed. “It was his action on the pitch that cost him the red card. It had nothing to do with me—unless I got into his head.” That is the argument being made by Ronaldo’s country.
2. Provocation Rather Than Aggression
Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card against Ireland.🟥 pic.twitter.com/Py1QCVuSVE
— Epic Red Cards (@epicredcards) November 14, 2025
Immediately after Nyberg first blew for a foul, Ronaldo protested his innocence, signalling that he had first been shoved before spinning around to aim an elbow in O’Shea’s back.
This is another layer of evidence in the case put forward by the Portuguese FA, who write off Ronaldo’s actions as “a reaction of frustration.”
3. Unprecedented
This is billed as the most convincing argument put forward. For some reason, the fact that this was the first red card of Ronaldo’s two-decade-long international career, spanning 226 caps, should justify a shortened punishment.
It may have been Ronaldo’s first red card for Portugal, but it is the 13th he has collected across his career for club and country, eight of which were straight red cards.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Three Reasons Why Portugal Are Hopeful of Cristiano Ronaldo Avoiding World Cup Ban.
