The first promotional poster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was designed to celebrate global stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Vinicius Junior. But as the soccer world scanned the announcement for the upcoming tournament in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, one question overshadowed the excitement: why was Cristiano Ronaldo missing?
Instead of answers, fans received confusion — and FIFA, facing growing backlash, was forced to delete the image entirely. The governing body removed the poster after what it called a “bizarre error,” an issue the organization did not immediately specify, leaving supporters wondering what had gone wrong.
The poster, released on FIFA’s official channels, was designed to spotlight one player from each of the 42 national teams already qualified for the expanded 48-nation 2026 World Cup. According to reports from the Spanish newspaper Marca, this promotional piece was intended to build anticipation ahead of the official draw on December 5.
It featured some of the sport’s biggest icons. Lionel Messi appeared for Argentina, Kylian Mbappe for France, Erling Haaland for Norway, Mohamed Salah for Egypt, Vinicius for Brazil, and Sadio Mane for Senegal. The representation was meant to be inclusive, global, and balanced — at least on paper. But what followed was anything but balanced. The image picked up traction not for who was included, but for who wasn’t.
The first official poster for the FIFA World Cup 2026
Who represented Portugal on FIFA’s initial poster?
The mystery surrounding the mistake quickly evaporated when supporters analyzed the details. The poster displayed Bruno Fernandes as Portugal’s representative — not Cristiano Ronaldo, the country’s captain and leading figure for nearly two decades. This was the moment the backlash exploded.
Fans from Portugal and around the world questioned how the tournament’s first promotional image could overlook a player widely regarded as one of soccer’s defining figures. Many expressed disbelief, calling the omission illogical and suggesting that FIFA had weakened its own marketing impact by excluding one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. Others accused them of bias, pointing out that Ronaldo had featured prominently in every major tournament poster for nearly twenty years.
FIFA offered no immediate explanation for the removal. As reported by several outlets, the governing body simply deleted the image from its social media channels before replacing it with another one.
Ronaldo’s legacy looms, even without the poster
Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence was not just a mistake in representation — it cut against the expectations of a soccer world preparing for his potential sixth World Cup appearance, a record-breaking milestone.The 40-year-old remains central to Portugal’s identity. His exclusion raised more questions than answers, especially at a time when the soccer community continues to debate the future roles of its two dominant icons: Ronaldo and Messi.
The 2026 World Cup new official poster
Earlier this month, Ronaldo himself addressed legacy and ambition in an interview with Piers Morgan. “If you ask me, Cristiano, is it a dream to win the World Cup? No, it’s not a dream,” he said, adding that his career cannot be reduced to a single tournament outcome. “To define if I’m one of the best of the history, to win one competition… You think it’s fair?”
Those words gained new resonance as the poster controversy unfolded. The player who “doesn’t need a World Cup to define his legacy” had suddenly been left out of the tournament’s own promotional identity.
