CRISTIANO RONALDO COULD FACE WOD CUP SUSPENSION: HOW PORTUGAL'S STAR RED CARD COULD TRIGGER WORLD CUP BAN

Cristiano Ronaldo pretended to wipe tears from his face after clashing with Dara O'Shea

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo lost his cool Thursday in World Cup qualifying, and it could cost him time at his final World Cup this summer in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Ronaldo, 40, was shown a red card in Portugal’s 2-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, a controversial sending-off that came after VAR reviewed an incident with Ipswich Town defender Dara O’Shea inside the box.

Ronaldo will miss Portugal’s final World Cup qualifier on Sunday, with the nation in the driver’s seat to automatically qualify — a win puts them into the 2026 World Cup and a number of combinations could put the group leaders in Europe without the need for further qualifiers.

But FIFA rules say the leading male international goal scorer may face supplemental discipline due to the nature of his foul, triggering one or two more games to his ban and potentially keeping him from Portugal’s first two group games at the World Cup.

Portugal boss Roberto Martinez will join his star in arguing that the offense doesn’t rise to that of supplemental discipline for assault — and Ronaldo’s star may have his action adjudicated in a special manner — but the wording of the rule makes it tricky.

Cristiano Ronaldo red card vs Ireland: What did Portugal star do?

Portugal were already trailing 2-0 but had a free kick in a promising area when Ronaldo was jockeying for position with Ireland back O’Shea. Ronaldo took umbrage with O’Shea’s hands to his back and threw his elbow between the Irish defender’s shoulder blades.

O’Shea hit the deck and Ronaldo was shown a yellow card, then pantomiming the shove to referee Glenn Nyberg and balling his fists around his eyes at the defender to mimic tears.

The Video Assistant Referee was Pol van Boekel. He sent Nyberg to the pitch side monitor where the offense was upgraded to a red.

How could Cristiano Ronaldo be suspended from the World Cup?

FIFA’s Disciplinary Code says that a player will face a ban of up to three games if they are sent off for “assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting or hitting an opponent.”

It’s certainly an elbow, though the word assault seems to be some wiggle room for leaders hoping to show leniency to Ronaldo.

The first game will be the Armenia qualifier. Portugal lead Hungary by two points atop Group F with 10 points going into the final match day and they are heavily-favored to dispatch Armenia at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto. Hungary face the Republic of Ireland, now three points behind Portugal, at the same time.

A Portugal loss would open the door to Hungary or Ireland to win Group F. Hungary could also seize a World Cup bid if Portugal draw and Hungary beat Ireland by at least three goals while scoring at least two more goals than Portugal score vs Armenia.

If that happened, Portugal would drop into second place in Group F and need to win two more World Cup qualifying elimination games this Spring to reach this summer’s tournament.

When will Cristiano Ronaldo learn of World Cup qualifying suspension?

The Associated Press’ Graham Dunbar says Ronaldo faces a wait to learn his punishment.

Dunbar says Ronaldo could face a 2-3 game ban — two does seem like a good hedge for FIFA, if we’re allowed to opine here — and that FIFA has usually taken around three weeks to issue supplemental disciplinary verdicts in the past.

How many career red cards have been shown to Cristiano Ronaldo?

Martinez has argue that Ronaldo should not face punishment in part due to an exceptional international disciplinary record — the Al Nassr star had never been sent off in a Portugal shirt.

Ronaldo has, however, been sent off 12 times in his club career: four for Manchester United, six for Real Madrid, one for Juventus, and — most recently — in his 2023-24 season in Saudi Arabia.

- Nicholas Mendola

EU LEGAL ADVISER SAYS SOME FIFA PLAYER TRANSFER RULES MAY BREACH EU LAW

AP Photo 

 BRUSSELS (AP) — FIFA rules on transfers can conflict with European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement because they limit possibilities for players to change clubs, and for clubs to hire, a senior EU legal adviser said on Tuesday.

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave his opinion after French soccer player Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules.

The Diarra case went through FIFA judicial bodies before the 2016 election of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has made it a priority to modernize transfer market rules.

Former France international Diarra signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013. The deal was terminated a year later after Diarra was unhappy with alleged pay cuts.

Lokomotiv Moscow applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player submitted a counterclaim seeking compensation for unpaid wages. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the Russian club terminated the contract with Diarra “with just cause” and the player was condemned to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million).

Diarra claimed his search for a new club was hampered by FIFA rules stipulating that any new side would be jointly responsible with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv.

The former Real Madrid player also argued that a potential deal with Belgian club Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules, and sued FIFA and the Belgian federation at a Belgian court for damages and loss of earnings of six million euros ($7 million).

Szpunar proposed the European Court of Justice should reply to the questions referred by the Belgian tribunal “by finding that the FIFA rules governing contractual relations between players and clubs may prove to be contrary to the European rules on competition and freedom of movement of persons."

“He finds that there can be no doubt as to the restrictive nature of (FIFA transfer regulations) with regard to freedom of movement," the court said in a statement, noting the restrictive rules can be justified only in specific circumstances.

“These provisions are such as to discourage and dissuade clubs from hiring the player for fear of financial risk. The sporting sanctions faced by clubs hiring the player can effectively prevent a player from exercising his or her profession with a club located in another member state.”

Advocates General routinely provide legal guidance to the ECJ. Their opinions aren’t binding on the Luxembourg-based court, but are followed in most cases.

Concerning competition rules, Szpunar found that FIFA rules on transfers, “by limiting clubs’ ability to recruit players, necessarily affect competition between clubs on the market for the acquisition of professional players.”

Szpunar's opinion follows a court ruling last year finding that UEFA and FIFA acted unlawfully to block the rebel Super League.

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.

- SAMUEL PETREQUIN