Ronaldo Named in Portugal Preliminary Squad, Opening Door to Return After Rift

Cristiano Ronaldo is in Portugal's preliminary squad for next month's Nations League matches, opening the door to an international return after his fallout with coach Jorge Jesus, a federation source told AFP on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Portuguese football federation, the FPF, confirmed reports that Ronaldo was in line for a return to the squad ahead of games at home to Denmark and in Wales on November 14 and 17. The spokesperson's confirmation covers a preliminary list only. It is not a final squad selection, and it does not confirm that Ronaldo will play in either match.

The decision comes on November 6

Jesus will announce his final squad on November 6, the FPF spokesperson added. That announcement, eight days before the Denmark game, is the point at which a return would become real. Until then, Ronaldo is on a long list, alongside other players who may also be cut.

The two matches are already set. Portugal play Denmark at home on November 14 and travel to Wales on November 17. Both are Nations League fixtures, and both come after the squad announcement that decides whether Ronaldo travels at all.

A walkout, a suspension and an apology

Ronaldo, 41, abruptly left the Portugal camp on September 30 during the opening qualifiers for the Nations League, before accusing Jesus of breaking his word about giving him game time. The walkout turned a selection dispute into a public split between the captain and the coach.

The FPF last week announced it had handed Ronaldo a 30-day suspension for walking out. The suspension was backdated, meaning he will be free to return by the end of this week. That timing is what makes the November matches possible at all: a suspension that ran from its announcement date would have covered part of the build-up to the two games.

Ronaldo apologised to supporters earlier in October, adding he would accept any punishment that was imposed, and he insisted he was not retiring from international duty. The preliminary squad place is the first sign since that apology that the federation is ready to pick him again.

Portugal kept winning without him

Reigning champions Portugal won all four of their Nations League matches, three of them without Ronaldo, and qualified for the quarter-finals with two games to spare. The team did not need him to reach the last eight, which changes the terms of any return: he would come back into a winning side, not rescue a struggling one.

Ronaldo is the all-time top goalscorer and record appearance maker in men's international football, and he made his Portugal debut in 2003 at the age of 18. Twenty-three years after that debut, the question is no longer what he has done for Portugal. It is whether Jesus puts him in the final squad on November 6, and nothing in Tuesday's news answers that yet.