Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal career ends after years of controversy

Cristiano Ronaldo has retired from international football after the latest dispute surrounding his 23-year Portugal career, which included clashes with managers, emotional moments on the pitch and the repeated loss of his captain’s armband.

The final controversy began after Portugal’s Nations League victory in Norway. Ronaldo stayed on the bench for the entire match in Oslo, the first time in 6,678 days that he had been named in a Portugal squad for a game without starting or appearing.

After the final whistle, he went straight to the dressing room instead of joining his team-mates in greeting supporters or celebrating the win. He later left Portugal’s training camp in Copenhagen on the eve of the match against Denmark on 14 November 2026.

Ronaldo, 234 times a Portugal international, announced his retirement from international football on Thursday.

‘Ask Carlos Queiroz’

Ronaldo’s relationship with Luis Felipe Scolari, Portugal manager from 2003 to 2008, was relatively calm. Tensions increased under Carlos Queiroz, who took charge between 2008 and 2010.

Ronaldo missed a friendly against Liechtenstein on 12 August 2009 because of flu. The relationship deteriorated further during the 2010 World Cup.

In Portugal’s last-16 match against Spain on 29 June 2010, television cameras showed Ronaldo appearing frustrated by some of Queiroz’s decisions. David Villa scored Spain’s winning goal in the 63rd minute, ending Portugal’s campaign.

Asked to explain the defeat, the Real Madrid forward replied: “Ask Carlos Queiroz.”

Queiroz left his post in September 2010 and was replaced by Paulo Bento, who later admitted that his relationship with Ronaldo had worsened.

“If you ask me whether the relationship was as it was at the beginning, the answer is no,” Bento told Antena 1 in May. “And if maintaining the relationship requires me to abandon my principles… no. There must be hierarchies and they must be respected.”

The microphone and the armband incidents

Under Fernando Santos, Ronaldo was again at the centre of controversy, although this time away from the pitch. On 22 June 2016, hours before Portugal’s decisive group match against Hungary in Lyon at Euro 2016, he threw a microphone belonging to CMTV into a lake.

Portugal went on to win the tournament, while Ronaldo’s relationship with Santos was strengthened by victory in the Nations League in 2019.

In 2021, however, Ronaldo was involved in two incidents within three months. Against Serbia in a World Cup 2022 qualifier on 27 March, he believed his late shot had crossed the line, but the referee ruled that the ball had not completely done so. Ronaldo protested, received a yellow card and threw his captain’s armband to the ground before entering the dressing room.

On 27 June, after Portugal lost 1-0 to Belgium in the last 16 of Euro 2020, he dropped and kicked the armband in the tunnel at La Cartuja in Seville before a member of the coaching staff intervened.

Dispute with Fernando Santos

At the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo was substituted in the 66th minute against South Korea, managed by Paulo Bento, and reacted angrily. He then began the next match against Switzerland on the bench, with Goncalo Ramos replacing him and scoring a hat-trick in a 6-1 win.

Ronaldo came on in the 51st minute against Morocco but could not prevent Portugal’s 1-0 defeat. It was Santos’ final match in charge.

In November 2023, Santos told A Bola that his “very strong” relationship with Ronaldo had been seriously damaged after the Switzerland match.

“It is true that on the morning of the game, when I explained to him that he would not play and why, he misunderstood it. Do I understand his reaction? Yes, I do!” he said.

Roberto Martinez later enjoyed a close, quiet relationship with Ronaldo for two years. But controversy returned on 13 November 2025, when Ronaldo was sent off for an incident involving an Ireland player during Portugal’s 2-0 win.

Portugal secured World Cup 2026 qualification in the next match, beating Armenia 9-1 without Ronaldo at the Estadio do Dragao. Criticism followed over his potential participation in the tournament, although the situation appeared calmer after Jorge Jesus was appointed, having worked with Ronaldo the previous season.

The latest disputes over Ronaldo’s position in the team, his departure from the Copenhagen camp and his subsequent suspension brought the story to its conclusion with his international retirement.