What will happen to Ronaldo's shirt? FIFA veto puts Cristiano and Messi on an equal footing

What happened with Maradona and Foe is happening again now!

In a single sentence, Cristiano Ronaldo ended a 22-year debate: "The day has come to return the number 7 shirt to our national team, to all of us." Don announced his international retirement with those words, posted in a farewell video through his official accounts today, Thursday. His career began in 2003 and reached its final stop against Wales last September.

The message was clear. The Madeira missile passes on the torch, leaving the most famous shirt in Portugal's history vacant in a team now led by Jorge Jesus. But what happens to the shirt now? And could it be retired permanently in tribute to the legend?

The practical answer arrived before the theoretical question. During the last international break, Ronaldo left the national team camp ahead of the match against Denmark, and Rafael Leao immediately took the number 7. That is the clearest indication of what comes next.

The law leaves no vacuum, according to the Portuguese newspaper "Record". UEFA regulations require all national teams to submit a final numbered list of 23 players by midnight on the day before the match.

No number can be left vacant. Someone must wear the number 7, and the same applies to every official FIFA match.

So the number 7 shirt stays in circulation, with a new player wearing it in each camp. There is nothing unusual about that. Throughout Ronaldo's own career, big names such as Nani, Ricardo Quaresma, Fabio Coentrao, Andre Silva, Bruma, Ricardo Horta and Miguel Veloso wore it in his absence, while the likes of Pedro Neto and Trincao sat on the bench with the same number.

Here comes the shocking veto. The International Federation of Football Association strictly prohibits the retirement and withholding of numbers in men's national teams, whatever the stature of the player.

Even an emotional suggestion runs into that wall. Legend Paulo Futre made one last October during the Sports Foundation awards ceremony: "If I were at the football federation I would retire the number 7 shirt, Cristiano must go out in a big way." FIFA does not allow tributes through withholding numbers in national teams, though it does allow it at clubs.

Portugal are not the first to try, and the outcome will match everyone who came before.

Maradona: In 2001, the Argentine federation submitted an official request to retire the number 10 shirt in tribute to Diego Maradona. FIFA rejected the request outright, and Ariel Ortega ended up wearing the legendary shirt at the 2002 World Cup.

Messi: The scenario repeated itself to the letter with Lionel Messi. After he announced his retirement, the Argentine federation requested the retirement of his number 10 shirt, only to be refused again for the same legal reason.

Marc-Vivien Foe: The most human case belonged to the Cameroonian who died of a heart attack on the pitch at the 2003 Africa Cup of Nations. Cameroon tried to retire his number 17 shirt, but FIFA refused. Clubs allowed it, so Manchester City retired his number 23 shirt and Lens retired his number 17 shirt, because club regulations are different.

Ronaldo's own story with numbers proves the shirt does not depend on a single player. His first appearance came with the number 16 at Chaves. He then wore 17 from Euro 2004 until the 2006 World Cup, the number in which he shone until the retirement of Luis Figo, the historic owner of the number 7. Only from 2007 did the number 7 become his.

Now the era of the number 7 with Ronaldo has ended, but the number 7 itself will not. It will search for a new heir, because FIFA's rules do not recognise legends when it comes to numbers.