Cristiano Ronaldo: Is the Portugal captain banned from the 2026 World Cup?

Last week, Ronaldo announced next year’s World Cup will be his last major tournament, but now it’s likely that he will be missed when it starts.

The red card he received automatically carried a one-match suspension, ruling him out of Sunday’s crucial qualifier against Armenia.

But the harsh performance almost always brings an extended suspension and the additional sports serving of competitive arrangements.

If Portugal can get the win they need against Armenia to qualify outright, their next competition will be their opening game at the World Cup.

If the unlikely happens and Portugal fall out of the games, the 40-year-old will sit out the semi-final and perhaps the final.

But how many games does Ronaldo get? That is in the hands of FIFA’s disciplinary committee.

Technically, FIFA could choose not to extend Ronaldo’s ban, meaning he would not risk missing the start of the tournament.

However, the FIFA Disciplininary Code states that a red card is for “attack, including punching, submitting, submitting to a suspect inside. That can be seen as Ronaldo Miss Portugal World Cup group games or both games.

But it’s not as simple as that, as FIFA things are these things in a basic case.

For example, in the 2023 World’s World Cup, Laureland James was given two matches for tapping the back of Nigeria’s Michelle Amozie.

So, Ronaldo should be banned for three games, but he can only receive a suspension of two matches.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask me anything team.