With Cristiano Ronaldo’s future with the national team in doubt, the Portuguese FA have been cautioned about their potential decline.
Many believe Ronaldo has participated in his final FIFA World Cup, given that he is now 41 years of age, and not the athlete he once was.
However, if Ronaldo does decide to hang up his international boots, then the Portuguese national team will experience a huge shock, so says Daniel Sa, the executive director of the Portuguese Institute of Marketing Administration.
Cristiano Ronaldo retiring from Portugal would be a ‘tragedy’
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Daniel Sa claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo retiring from the Portuguese national team would be a huge blow for the team’s visibility and brand.
Sa didn’t delve much into the footballing aspect of it, but did note that Ronaldo’s presence is massively lucrative for the Portuguese football federation, and him going away would hurt them.
“It might be a bit harsh to say, but from a brand perspective, Ronaldo is incomparably bigger than the entire Portuguese national team and countless others combined.
“I’m not making a sporting analysis, but a brand analysis: it will be a tragedy when he leaves, because people still don’t grasp the media attention that will be lost. We’ll be falling down a high-speed escalator.
“He’s the one who makes them sign numerous contracts and earn a lot of money for over 20 years. I believe the FPF is preparing a different narrative, because it can’t be dependent on just one person and needs to present other types of arguments.
“Obviously, there is more to Portuguese football than Ronaldo, but they should explore this new strategy well.”
Portuguese National Team must embrace post-Cristiano Ronaldo future
No one can try and deny the massive impact and legacy Cristiano Ronaldo has had on Portuguese football across his two-decade-long career.
Without a doubt, Ronaldo is the greatest Portuguese player of all time, and will be remembered fondly for captaining the side to the 2016 European Championship.
But the 2020s have not been kind to Ronaldo, and his decline has actively been a detriment to Portugal’s squad, which has experienced the emergence of several young stars.
Now that his World Cup dream is officially behind him, it behooves Portugal to now build their team around the talented young stars and a robust style of play that isn’t focused on providing one person service.
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