Portugal is embarrassing itself worldwide
Ronaldo works 38.6 seconds to pay his joke penalty
Cristiano Ronaldo is causing a huge stir with his departure from the national team. Now the superstar receives the receipt. But there is plenty of ridicule for the joke punishment.
“Time for math,” wrote Portugal’s sports newspaper “A Bola” when the association’s punishment for Cristiano Ronaldo was finally made public – and people all over Europe were eagerly counting. The superstar has to pay a ridiculous 255 euros because he fled the national team in September, and how much is that in Ronaldo’s world?
At the Saudi club Al-Nassr he collects a basic salary of 208 million euros annually, including bonuses it is almost 250 million euros. So Ronaldo works 38.6 seconds to pay for his high-profile misconduct – he transfers 0.00012 percent of his annual salary to the national association FPF.
The ban has no consequences
“The world learned what it costs to leave the national team,” wrote “A Bola,” “but we also learned what the world thinks of Portuguese football and its regulations: ‘Ridiculous,’ we read.” That aptly summed up the international commentary.
And the accompanying ban is actually without consequences: Ronaldo is not allowed to play for the national team for 30 days; the sanction applies retroactively from his provisional suspension on the day after his departure from the camp on September 30th, so it ends in October. The next international matches for Portugal are in November, in the Nations League against Denmark (November 14th) and in Wales (November 17th).
Violate Article 160
The punishment is within the association’s guidelines for such offenses. The FPF announced that Ronaldo had violated Article 160 of the disciplinary code. The regulations initially provide for a ban of one to six months and, for a professional player, a fine of 510 to 1,020 euros. However, Ronaldo’s side was able to claim extenuating circumstances – admitting his wrongdoing was part of it, as well as its importance and merit for the national team.
Ronaldo left the team’s training camp during the last international break. The reason was his failure to be considered by national coach Jorge Jesus in Norway (2-1) and his announcement that he would only be placed on the bench in the following game against Denmark.
As a result, Ronaldo didn’t just leave and publicly accused Jesus of breaking his word. At the same time, he admitted wrongdoing, which should not remain without consequences, and apologized to his teammates and fans. Jesus could nominate Ronaldo again in November and, according to media reports, is planning to do so.
Sources used: ntv.de, tno/sid