Cristiano Ronaldo has escaped a World Cup ban and no one is surprised | OneFootball

Arrive for dinner, stay for seconds: to the surprise of absolutely no one, Cristiano Ronaldo has been cleared to start in Portugal’s opening match of the World Cup after Fifa’s disciplinary committee ruled to suspend the final two games of his three-game ban.

No doubt to the delight of Donald Trump, Ronaldo has been granted a reprieve from the threat of starting the World Cup on the sidelines, following his red card for violent conduct against the Republic of Ireland earlier this month.

Six days after dining at the White House as a guest of the US president, and as an envoy of Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ronaldo has received a ruling that, surely, no other player at at next summer’s World Cup could expect to receive in the same situation.

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Ronaldo visited the White House six days before learning his punishment (Instagram/@cristiano)

Ronaldo shook hands with Trump and stood by him in the Oval Office. He grinned while taking a selfie with Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who was also present at the White House. He is arguably the world’s biggest celebrity, commanding a fanbase far bigger than the populations of most teams at next summer’s World Cup, one that spans borders and continents.

Ronaldo’s punishment has effectively been reduced to a one-game ban, a slap on the wrist with the warning that his suspension could be reinstated if he commits an “infringement of a similar nature and gravity” in the next year.

Even by Fifa’s standards, this level of manoeuvring is so blatant, so obvious, that the audacity of ushering it through in plain sight almost defies belief.

Ronaldo put himself in a spot of bother when he rose to the jeers of the Dublin supporters and swung his elbow at Ireland defender Dara O’Shea off the ball during a 2-0 defeat in World Cup qualifying.

The case for Ronaldo’s defence was led by his Portugal manager Roberto Martinez, who argued: “I think the action looks worse than what it actually is, I don't think it's an elbow.”

An automatic one-game ban was applied, and served in Portugal’s 9-1 win in their next match against Armenia - a result that secured their place at next summer’s World Cup in north America.

But Fifa’s disciplinary code states that players can face an increased suspension of “at least three matches or an appropriate period of time for assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting or hitting an opponent” - with suspensions picked up in qualifying carrying over to the World Cup finals.

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Ronaldo takes a selfie Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Elon Musk as they attend a dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (DavidSacks via X via REUTERS)

By those rules, Fifa decided that a three-game ban was appropriate, but “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”.

The committee considered the fact that Ronaldo’s red card in Dublin was the first he had received in 226 international appearances, while article 27 states that the “judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure”. In other words, we can do this because we say so.

There is no real precedent for this. The Independent was directed to two further examples of Fifa’s disciplinary committee handing out a suspended punishment, one related to a second-division Israeli football club violating a player registration ban and the other was Mexico fans avoiding a stadium ban for homophobic chanting at the 2022 World Cup. Neither involved the softening of a three-game ban for violent conduct.

So Ronaldo, assuming he gets through the next few months while on his best behaviour, will be free to play in Portugal’s opening match of the World Cup, with their group-stage opponents to be confirmed at the December 5 draw where Trump is expected to join Infantino in Washington DC.

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Gianni Infantino has been a regular guest of Donald Trump before the 2026 World Cup (REUTERS)

And there is another element to the optics here, one where Ronaldo and Messi are effectively in a race to become the first player to appear at a sixth World Cup finals.

Ronaldo may still be scoring overhead kicks for Al-Nassr, but he will be 41 when the World Cup kicks off next summer and he has already confirmed that it will be his last.

For Ronaldo, Fifa, and what is evolving into Trump’s World Cup, every minute of his involvement will be valued as if it’s a rare earth mineral; its content to be mined, packaged and exported to as wide an audience as possible.