Star player made an alleged offensive gesture while playing

Al Nassr defeated their Riyadh rivals Al-Shabab 3-2 on Sunday. Meantime, a video footage that appeared seemed to show Ronaldo cupping his ear and repeatedly thrusting his hand forward near his pelvis, in an offensive gesture that seemed to be aimed at Al-Shabab fans. Background chants of “Messi,” referencing Ronaldo’s biggest and longstanding football rival Lionel Messi, could be heard.

The Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) committee announced the ban on Thursday morning. Al Nassr’s next league game is against Al-Hazem today.

Furthermore, the ex- Real Madrid and Manchester United football star will also have to pay a fine of 20,000 Saudi Riyals $5,333) to Al-Shabab to cover the costs of the club filing the complaint, and half of that amount to the federation. The committee has announced that the decision was not open to appeal.

Though the incident was not captured by television cameras, the action was widely criticized in Saudi Arabia based on the video footage by former players and commentators.

Not the first time that Ronaldo has been at the centre of controversy

It is not the first time that the Portuguese forward has been at the centre of controversy at Al Nassr. Last April, while leaving the field after a game against Al Hilal, Ronaldo appeared to grab his genitals as fans kept chanting Messi’s name. The club, at that time, said that the forward had sustained a groin injury during the match.

Ronaldo moved to the Riyadh-based club in December 2022, and has a league-leading 22 goals. He scored the opener against Al-Shabab, a first-half penalty.

Notably, Al Nassr is also in the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League, a tournament the club has never won.