The popping of the Cristiano Ronaldo bubble
The 41-year-old captain’s decision to leave the national team training camp appears to have brought an end to an era in which the star player was overhyped at the expense of Portugal’s collective performance in two World Cups
On December 6, 2022, hours before facing Switzerland in the last 16 of the Qatar World Cup, Portugal coach Fernando Santos summoned Cristiano Ronaldo to his room at the team hotel. “I explained to him that he would not start that night because he lacked match rhythm, and he took it badly,” the coach recalled. It was the trigger for a crisis that four years later still consumes time and energy at a federation that has failed to promote an extraordinary generation of talent without subordinating it to the contradiction of playing for a footballer who achieved greatness thanks to his dynamism but is now 41 and has long struggled to move around the field.
When on Wednesday Ronaldo felt offended by his coach, Jorge Jesus, and summoned his private jet to pick him up in Copenhagen after leaving the squad ahead of the Nations League match against Denmark, he opened the final chapter of a long and very costly farewell. By refusing to give up the fabulous revenue stream represented by the world’s most politically and financially powerful footballer, the Portuguese Football Federation prolonged a relationship that has come at a high price. It had key players from the core of the squads that won three of the last four Champions League titles, but during the same period, it threw two World Cups and one European Championship away.
Federation president Pedro Proença knows the story as well as Jorge Jesus and the players do. Sources close to the national team said most of the locker room received the news with optimism that afternoon in Doha in 2022. When the players learned Ronaldo would not play against Switzerland, they felt a door had opened. Finally, it was time for Gonçalo Ramos, Bernardo Silva, João Félix, Rafa Leão, Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes to show they could develop the fast, associative, team-oriented football that had raised Spain to prominence. With Ronaldo transformed into a tank, they saw the off-the-ball runs, passing lanes and attacking flow were being stifled in favor of crosses into the box or long balls followed by sprints. They proved it that night. Portugal beat Switzerland 6-1, and Ronaldo came off the bench. But instead of boosting the team, the victory became fuel for a self-destructive conflict.
The coach was the first victim of the contradictions surrounding the team. “With Cristiano we created an affectionate relationship, like father and son, a personal relationship,” Fernando Santos said on A Bola TV months later. “But when the World Cup came he lacked match rhythm because he was coming off a long dispute with [Manchester] United and hadn’t played. I thought it would be good for him to come on in the second half and I wanted to explain it to him personally, out of respect...”
Ronaldo never spoke to the coach again and the locker room split into an unhealthy atmosphere. Although players like Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes publicly expressed their support for Santos, and although Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa went to Qatar and praised the coach’s decision, the team was destabilized amid the media uproar. The elimination by Morocco in the quarterfinals reflected the incompatibilities within the project. As sources close to the Portuguese federation point out, the pressure from sponsors for Ronaldo to occupy a prominent position came with the promise of millions upon millions. The player and the federation’s inner circle were scheming to maintain a star-level prominence that, at age 37, clashed with his physical limitations. Premier League analysts consulted on condition of anonymity note that even during the Nations League that Portugal won in 2019, Cristiano had ceased to be a tireless forward and had become a useful asset in the second half of games. Nothing more.
Trump, Infantino and Musk
Pressures intensified in the months leading up to the World Cup in the U.S, Mexico, and Canada. Ronaldo’s signing by Al-Nassr, a flagship club in the Saudi league, turned him into a figure that transcended sport. His salary of $200 million per season consolidated a fortune that, according to Forbes, exceeds $1.2 billion. As Saudi Arabia pushed its World Cup bid and reaffirmed itself as one of the United States’ main strategic partners, the player became a commercial and geopolitical hinge. The dinner Donald Trump hosted at the White House in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on November 18, 2025, served to display his new de facto status as a Saudi plenipotentiary minister. Protocol placed him between Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and Elon Musk, according to Euronews.
With Spaniard Roberto Martínez as the new coach, Ronaldo’s untouchable status was guaranteed. So much so that before the last World Cup the federation signed a partnership agreement with AVA CR7, his sports recovery company. A balloon that grew ever larger at the expense of Portugal’s performance.
The World Cup disappointment and the untimely walk-out in Denmark bring an era of turmoil to a close. To celebrate, Portugal won 4-2 at the Parken Stadium on Wednesday. The legendary No. 7 jersey that Ronaldo inherited from Luis Figo was worn by Rafael Leão.
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