Ronaldo Walks Out of Portugal Camp
Cristiano Ronaldo left Portugal’s training camp in Copenhagen on Wednesday, hours after coach Jorge Jesus said the 41-year-old captain would not start Thursday’s Nations League match against Denmark, and promised to tell the country why.
He announced the decision on Instagram after Jesus’s press conference and a conversation with federation president Pedro Proença. “Following the national team manager’s press conference, and after a conversation with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation, I have decided to leave the national team’s training camp,” he wrote. He said he would, in time, tell the Portuguese “the truth about the reasons” for a departure from a team to which he had “always been fully committed,” and wished his teammates luck “without exception.”
The Portuguese Football Federation confirmed he had gone and that preparations for Denmark, and a later home game against Norway, would continue with the other 24 players. “The entire delegation remains fully focused on the national team’s upcoming fixtures and on achieving our goals,” it said.
The break followed Sunday’s 2-1 win over Norway in Oslo, in which Ronaldo was an unused substitute after a long warm-up. At the whistle he went straight to the dressing room rather than acknowledge travelling supporters. He trained alone in the gym on Monday and Tuesday, though he was not injured. Portuguese media later filmed him leaving Parken Stadium in a federation car after Jesus’s remarks, missing the final session.
Jesus, who coached him for about a year at Al-Nassr, spent much of the press conference denying a rift. He said there had been “no incident whatsoever,” that any player would be unhappy after warming up for 20 or 30 minutes without coming on, and that earlier frustration was “water under the bridge.” He insisted Ronaldo had not refused to train and would join the group on Wednesday. On the team sheet he was firmer: Gonçalo Ramos would start if the plan held, the rules applied to everyone, and “no player will ever make a decision for me.” Ronaldo, he added, remained available if the match needed him.
Ronaldo holds the men’s international records with 234 caps and 146 goals, having debuted in 2003, and has won Euro 2016 and two Nations League titles. After Portugal’s World Cup exit earlier in 2026 he publicly weighed stepping away, then chose to stay. He is also chasing 1,000 career goals. Portugal lead their Nations League group with six points from two matches.
