Cristiano RonaldoCristiano Ronaldo's participation with Portugal in the 2026 World Cup is uncertain due to his red card against Ireland. However, Portugal intends to appeal.According to Portuguese

The Portuguese football federation has reportedly devised a three-pronged argument as part of an appeal to limit Cristiano Ronaldo’s international ban to just one fixture.

Ronaldo has featured at all of those so far except the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. He has made 22 appearances for Portugal at World Cups, putting him fifth on the all-time list behind, Italy’s Paulo Maldini (23), Germany’s Miroslav Klose (24), Lothar Matthaus (25) and Messi (26).

Under the current ruling, Cristiano Ronaldo will be unavailable for Portugal’s final World Cup qualifier against Armenia on Sunday.

With Carlo Ancelotti as coach, Brazil have improved noticeably in the FIFA rankings, moving ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal just days before the World Cup 2026 draw.

He last played in the U.S. on August 2, 2014, when he came on as a substitute for Real Madrid against Manchester United in front of a crowd of 109,318 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. He last played for Portugal in the U.S. earlier that summer in a friendly game against the Republic of Ireland at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Cristiano Ronaldo has sent a message of support to his Portugal team-mates ahead of their meeting with Armenia. The Selecao currently top Group F ahead of the final round of World Cup qualification games but defeat to Ireland on Thursday means they need to win to book their trip stateside next summer.

The United States Soccer Federation will soon announce a friendly between the USMNT and a Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal team in March.

With a lot of discourse currently around Ronaldo and Portugal, we’ve compared the national team results with and without him since the 2022 World Cup. Since then, Portugal have played a total of 36 matches. Of those, CR7 has featured in 30 and has missed six.

Martinez attributes Ronaldo's reaction to provocation from opposition players. Martinez said, "I saw that Cristiano's reaction was a reaction to provocation. And it was a provocation that started at the beginning of the game, every time Cristiano was in the box with their defenders...'