FIFA at risk of World Cup legal battle after Cristiano Ronaldo's controversial red card reprieve as nations ponder Court of Arbitration case

FIFA could face legal action following their controversial decision to suspend Cristiano Ronaldo’s ban and allow him to play in Portugal’s first two World Cup games.

In a brazen move that has triggered widespread criticism, the governing body has taken the extraordinary step of suspending the final two games of a three-match ban issued to the 40-year-old superstar after he was sent off for elbowing Ireland’s Dara O’Shea in a qualifier earlier this month.

Ronaldo, a guest of president Donald Trump in the White House last week, sat out Portugal’s final World Cup qualifier – a 9-1 thrashing of Armenia – and is effectively now free to play for his country.

However, Daily Mail Sport understands that those who are drawn to play against Portugal in the matches for which he should have been banned, could make a claim at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to overturn the controversial suspension and uphold the original punishment. A panel would sit in Switzerland before delivering a verdict.

Whether there is an appetite to go down such a route remains to be seen. Other countries whose players will miss matches due to suspensions that have not been similarly reduced may also be monitoring the situation.

Any aggrieved party would have to demonstrate that they are directly affected by the decision and that there is a legal interest worthy of protection, according to those with knowledge of the situation. 

In what would effectively be a test case, they would need to prove that their chances of qualifying from the group would be reduced if Ronaldo, who scored five goals on the road to the US, was permitted to play against them. 

They would also need to establish that FIFA’s decision was wrong and, given the discretionary nature of their disciplinary process, that could prove to be a stiff task.

The draw will be made next Friday in Washington DC. England cannot face Portugal but Scotland, and potentially the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales could do if they win their play-off matches.

FIFA’s disciplinary code states that a player should serve ‘at least three matches or an appropriate period of time for assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting or hitting an opponent or a person other than a match official’. 

However, Article 27 of the code states that a FIFA judicial committee can ‘fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure’.

FIFA said: ‘In line with article 27 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, the serving of the two remaining matches has been suspended under a one-year probation period.

If Cristiano Ronaldo commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension set out in the disciplinary decision shall be deemed automatically revoked and the remaining two matches must be served immediately at the next official match(es) of the Portuguese representative team. 

This is without prejudice to any additional sanctions imposed for the new infringement.’

FIFA say their disciplinary panel is ‘fully independent’.