The official World Cup account on various social media platforms removed the promotional poster for the 2026 World Cup following a widespread wave of criticism and public backlash due to the absence of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo in the advertisement.

Yesterday, Wednesday, FIFA released a promotional poster for the upcoming World Cup, featuring 42 players representing the teams that have qualified so far, with 6 spots still undecided.

Despite the presence of the top stars from the teams that have secured their qualification for the World Cup, the poster sparked significant controversy after excluding Ronaldo and including only his compatriot Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United player, as the representative of the Portuguese national team.

Hours after the criticism and anger surged on social media from Ronaldo’s fans and the Portuguese national team supporters, the World Cup account completely deleted the poster without any comment, a move that followers considered an implicit admission of the mistake.

The World Cup account posted a new poster today, Thursday, on its official channels featuring Cristiano Ronaldo. It should be noted that this poster is not the official World Cup poster, but rather one that includes the teams qualified after the end of the most recent international break.