Jorge Jesus includes Ronaldo on Portugal’s preliminary list for Denmark and Wales

On 30 September, Cristiano Ronaldo left Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, where Portugal’s camp was based. He then phoned Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença to say he would not stay with the squad, telling him he was not in the right frame of mind to continue, according to O Jogo and SIC Notícias. Ronaldo later said he felt Jesus had broken his word, while the Disciplinary Council found that he acted knowingly and rejected his reasons as valid justification for leaving. His departure turned a difficult moment for Portugal into a disciplinary case, and now frames the question of whether the national team’s record-holder will return for November.

Ronaldo’s inclusion on Jorge Jesus’s preliminary list puts Portugal’s record-holder back in the selection pool for the Nations League games against Denmark and Wales. It does not confirm that he will be called up: the list is only an initial group, and the final squad is due on 6 November.

As we explained on 20 October, the FPF Disciplinary Council suspended Ronaldo for 30 days and fined him €255; the ban ends before the November fixtures. Ronaldo had also apologised to his team-mates for leaving camp.

A preliminary-list place carries less weight than a place in the final squad. A Bola reported that the Portuguese Football Federation usually sends clubs lists of around 50 players, with about half of those named later missing out on the final selection.

This time, the pool is even larger: Expresso reported that Jesus’s preliminary list contains 55 players.

The names around him underline that breadth. O Jogo reported that João Félix and Samu Costa, Ronaldo’s Al Nassr team-mates, are also included. Their presence shows that the preliminary group reaches beyond a small core of obvious first choices; inclusion is shared by players with different roles and does not, on its own, establish who will travel or play.

The preliminary list gives Ronaldo a route back, but Jorge Jesus has made clear that selection depends on more than the coach’s choice. Speaking to Expresso, Jesus said Ronaldo’s willingness to represent Portugal was part of the selection decision.

I don't know what will happen. As far as I'm concerned, everything is open. He has to decide; it's his life. If Cristiano Ronaldo is playing and wants to be in the national team, why not?

Ronaldo had already stated his own position after the disciplinary ruling. In a statement reported by CNN Portugal, he said he would be available once he had served the suspension, leaving no question about his willingness in principle.

After serving the suspension imposed on me, I will be available, as I have always been until today, to compete and win for our national team.

Pedro Proença has presented the federation as a third party trying to bring the two closer. He told Expresso that the FPF, Jesus and the players wanted Ronaldo back, and described the disagreement between captain and coach as a misunderstanding the federation was working to resolve.

We are all sitting down at the table; there is a great desire to have our captain back.

Portugal have already qualified for the Nations League quarter-finals, so the November matches against Denmark and Wales are not about securing a place in the last eight. The remaining question is whether Portugal can finish top of Group A4, and reports differ on what they still need to do.

Expresso reported that a draw across the two remaining games would be enough to confirm first place. Record, by contrast, said Portugal needed one more point, while Observador reported that they might not need any points in November to secure top spot and the associated quarter-final draw seeding. The accounts do not agree on the precise threshold.

That difference matters to the way the final fixtures are framed: the Denmark and Wales games still carry a question of position in the group. Whatever the precise threshold, qualification is settled before Jesus names his final squad.

Ronaldo’s possible return also raises a question about what the episode has done to the federation and the coach. Former Portugal international and FPF vice-president Humberto Coelho said the dispute had brought no benefit to either side, and described it as a difficult period for Ronaldo and the federation.

Nobody won, and nobody will win from the Cristiano Ronaldo case.

Coelho also said the players appeared to support Jesus, and left it to them to decide whether Ronaldo should return wearing the captain’s armband. A Bola’s editorial takes a sharper view of the institutional response: it says the €255 fine and 30-day suspension did little to show rigour. It also questions whether settling the matter quickly because of Ronaldo’s standing could weaken confidence in the federation’s institutions. That concern is about more than whether one player is selected; it is about whether the rules appear to hold when a celebrated captain is involved.

That depends on the players, doesn’t it? Because one important thing is that the players today seem to be with Jorge Jesus.

The stakes around Ronaldo’s place also come from what he has meant to Portugal. He holds the national records for appearances, with 234, and goals, with 146, and captained the side to the 2016 European Championship and the Nations League titles in 2019 and 2025. Those achievements help explain the weight attached to his place in the squad.

Portugal has faced a camp departure before. Ricardo Carvalho left the squad in Óbidos in August 2011 after concluding he would not start a Euro 2012 qualifier. The FPF suspended him from national-team activities for a year, and Paulo Bento did not select him. Carvalho returned after Bento left in 2014, under successor Fernando Santos, and later played at Euro 2016. Reports note that the rules and potential penalties in that case differed from Ronaldo’s. The precedent offers a route back, not a timetable or a guarantee.

Ronaldo’s departure from Parken began this episode; the next decisive moment is Jorge Jesus’s squad announcement on 6 November.

• 6 November: Jesus is due to announce Portugal’s final squad, including whether Ronaldo is selected.
• 14 November: Portugal host Denmark in their remaining Group A4 fixtures.
• 17 November: Portugal play Wales away in Cardiff.