Cristiano Ronaldo has given his account of the events that led him to leave Portugal’s national-team camp, apologising to his team-mates and supporters while saying the head coach failed to keep his word on two occasions.
In a lengthy statement via Instagram, Ronaldo said he accepts responsibility for leaving the camp and believes the Portuguese Football Federation should punish him, adding that his position as captain should count against him rather than protect him from sanctions.
At the same time, he said his decision came after a dispute over a plan agreed with the head coach, the handling of his role during matches against Norway and Denmark, and what was later said at a press conference.
Ronaldo also said he remains available to represent Portugal after serving any suspension imposed on him, provided he is fit, playing for his club and able to compete.
Ronaldo says he planned to leave Portugal after 2026 World Cup
Ronaldo said that after the 2026 World Cup he prepared a letter to the Portuguese people containing the words he intended to use when leaving the national team. He said the letter remains in his possession.
According to Ronaldo, the president of the Portuguese Football Federation spoke to him on the flight back from the United States after the tournament and asked him to reconsider leaving because the FPF wanted him to continue.
Ronaldo said the federation president then asked for his opinion on the man who would become Portugal’s head coach, alongside other candidates whose names were not disclosed to him. Ronaldo said he told the president that the coach would be the right choice.
He said that when the appointment was announced, he was pleased with the decision and believed the results supported it. A few days later, Ronaldo said, the coach contacted him and asked for a meeting.
The pair met at Cidade do Futebol, where Ronaldo’s club was holding its pre-season camp. Ronaldo said the coach told him that he was counting on him and that his presence was part of the coach’s project.
According to Ronaldo, the coach presented a plan under which he would play the first and last matches of the national-team window, with three or four changes being made in each game for fitness management.
The coach also proposed, Ronaldo said, that he should not travel with the squad to Norway and Denmark. Under that proposal, Ronaldo would play the first match, remain in Portugal and rejoin the squad before the match at the Dragão.
Ronaldo said he rejected the proposal because, as captain, he did not believe he should receive the privilege of remaining in Portugal while the rest of the squad travelled. He said the coach agreed with him.
Ronaldo said Simão Coutinho, Al Nassr’s sporting director, attended the conversation. He described Coutinho as the person to whom the coach had reported during the previous season and as one of those involved in the coach’s signing by Al Nassr in 2025.
Ronaldo says match plan changed in Norway
Ronaldo said the coach visited his home in Lisbon on the day before the camp began and that the principles agreed in August remained in place. He then played at Alvalade and was substituted.
Ronaldo said he did not object and placed the captain’s armband on Bruno Fernandes himself. He said he did not know at the time that he might have been taking his last steps as a Portugal player and captain. “What mattered to me that day was our victory,” Ronaldo said. “Winning is always good; in Portugal and for my country, even better.”
On the day of the match in Norway, Ronaldo said a member of the coaching staff approached him during lunch and told him the head coach wanted to speak to him. Ronaldo said the coach asked whether he was able to play 30 minutes.
He said he had been focused on physical recovery and had expected not to play that day. Ronaldo said the request fell outside his recovery and training plan because he had expected to play only on the fourth at the Dragão, but he agreed.
According to Ronaldo, the coach told him to be ready because he would play 30 minutes. Ronaldo said he began warming up at half-time but was never sent on. “The rest everyone knows. I warmed up from halftime, watched the minutes go by, and was never called on,” he said.
“The Head Coach had failed to keep his word.” Ronaldo said that after the match he wanted the night to end with a win and wanted to be left alone. He did not go to greet supporters after the match. Ronaldo accepted responsibility for that decision.
“That is a failing that is solely my responsibility and should not have happened,” he said. He apologised to Portuguese supporters who had travelled to the match, to the fans and to people from other countries who may have travelled to see him.
Ronaldo says coach agreed to address issue in press conference
Ronaldo said that 48 hours later he held a meeting with the head coach and Simão Coutinho, who had also been present during their earlier conversations.
He said the discussion was direct and that the parties agreed there was one way to close the matter: the coach would repeat in the press room what he had told Ronaldo in private. According to Ronaldo, the coach was to begin his press conference by addressing the issue.
Ronaldo said the coach would state that Ronaldo had never demanded playing time, that the coach alone had proposed the plan for the camp, and that asking Ronaldo to warm up before not using him had been a mistake that would not be repeated.
Ronaldo said the meeting ended with the coach asking him for a hug and promising to repeat those points in the press conference. Ronaldo said the agreement was that he would not play in Denmark and would play at the Dragão. He said Coutinho was present during the discussion.
At the coach’s request, Ronaldo said, another meeting was then held by video conference between the coach, Coutinho and Tiago Craveiro. Ronaldo said the substance of the earlier discussion was summarised and put into a document that he validated.
He said the document was then given to the head coach with his knowledge.
Ronaldo publishes points he says were agreed
Ronaldo set out the notes that he said he had approved before the press conference. The first point said the coach, and no one else, had proposed the plan for Ronaldo’s season with Portugal following a long conversation.
The second said the coach knew how much Ronaldo lived for and loved the national team, the position he held in football and the influence he had had within Portugal’s squad over 24 consecutive years.
The third said Ronaldo accepted the plan proposed to him. The fourth said Ronaldo had never questioned the coach’s decisions and had acted with loyalty and professionalism.
The fifth said the match in Norway had not been part of the original plan for Ronaldo. It said the coach believed Ronaldo had recovered from the first game, warned him that he might be used and received Ronaldo’s agreement.
The sixth said the coach had made a mistake by asking a player of Ronaldo’s standing to warm up and then not sending him on.
The note quoted the coach as saying: “I made a mistake in having someone of the stature of Pelé or Maradona warm up and then not putting him in the game. If it were today, I would not do it.”
The seventh point said the coach wanted Ronaldo in the national team. “To close the matter: I want Cristiano in the National Team. In fact, I don’t want him a little, I want him a lot,” the note said.
It added that Ronaldo believed in the coach and had done so at Al Nassr as well as with Portugal. The eighth point dealt with Ronaldo not greeting supporters.
The note said the issue had already been discussed and that someone who had played more than 230 matches for Portugal did not need lessons from the coach about love for the country.
It described Ronaldo’s action as a response to frustration and said it did not erase his record with supporters. “He is the player who signs the most autographs, takes the most selfies, shows the most affection to the fans,” the note said.
“Let’s not invent problems where they don’t exist. When we are not happy, we react. That was all.”
Ronaldo says press conference did not reflect private meeting
Ronaldo said the press conference did not reflect the discussion that had taken place. He said he heard comments and a tone that he believed were not consistent with what the coach had said to him in private the previous day.
Ronaldo said this amounted to the second occasion on which the coach had failed to keep his word. He said none of the agreed notes required the coach to apologise to him. “It was the second time he was failing to keep his word to me,” Ronaldo said.
He said he decided to leave camp rather than wait for another promise to be broken. “For me, the truth is still the most important thing in the relationship between people,” Ronaldo said. “No matter how much it may hurt, tell me the truth.”
Ronaldo said that on the morning of the press conference he also held a conversation with the FPF president and the head coach. He said he told them that if they no longer wanted him with the national team, they should say so directly.
Ronaldo said he would have accepted that decision and would have worked with them on a departure. According to Ronaldo, both men told him that was not the case and that his place remained with the national team.
Ronaldo denies interfering in coaching decisions
Ronaldo said he had never interfered with the technical or tactical decisions of any coach or national-team manager during almost 25 years as a player. He said he accepts coaching decisions whether he agrees with them or not.
“Never, at any moment, did I interfere in any technical or tactical decision of any coach or national team manager in almost 25 years of playing football,” he said. “I just take it better or worse, depending on what they propose.”
Ronaldo said he respects coaching decisions but regarded a failure to keep one’s word as a separate matter. “I respect the decision, and when they break their word to me, I feel that my place is not there,” he said.
Ronaldo apologises to Portugal team-mates and accepts punishment
Ronaldo apologised to his Portugal team-mates for leaving camp. He said the coach’s conduct did not excuse his own response.
“Despite the absolute breach of trust in the Head Coach’s word, as anyone who witnessed these conversations can attest, I should not have done it,” Ronaldo said. “The responsibility is entirely mine.”
He also apologised again to the Portuguese people. Ronaldo said that, for him, breaking one’s word changes a relationship and that he believed remaining in camp after the press conference would have harmed the group.
He said he acted in line with something he had said before: if he no longer felt useful, he would take his bags and leave. “The consequence of this act of mine must be assessed and punished by the Portuguese Football Federation,” Ronaldo said. “I believe the punishment should have no mitigating factors. I am not just any player. I am a team captain, and that is an aggravating factor.”
“Anyone in football as I am knows that, regardless of each person’s status, the rules are the same for everyone,” he said.
Ronaldo says he still wants to compete for Portugal
Ronaldo also addressed discussion about a farewell match. He said he had heard talk that he should receive a farewell from Portugal and that the federation wanted to provide one.
Ronaldo said his experience had taught him not to expect anything to be given to him. “I learned in life, going hungry and with nothing to eat, that nobody gives anything to anybody,” he said.
He said supporters, including Portuguese supporters, would eventually have one or more farewell matches, but that there was time for those events later. Ronaldo said his focus when thinking about Portugal is competition.
He referred to the death of his father and said he had remained with the national-team camp after receiving the news, staying until after the following day’s match. He said he had done something for Portugal that he would not have done for a club.
“If I am physically well, playing for my club, hopefully with goals, 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,” Ronaldo said.
“This is, believe me, the purest of truths.”
