Real Madrid midfielder Bernardo Silva has been named Portugal\u2019s new national team captain following Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s retirement from international football, head coach Jorge Jesus has confirmed.\n<\/p>\n
Jesus announced the decision on Friday while unveiling Portugal\u2019s 28-man squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Denmark and Wales.\n<\/p>\n
As reported by Fabrizio Romano on X on Saturday, \u201cBernardo Silva will be the new captain of the Portuguese national team after Cristiano Ronaldo.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Portugal will face Denmark in Braga on November 14 before travelling to Cardiff to take on Wales on November 17.<\/p>\n
The fixtures will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the national team following Ronaldo\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a press conference at the Cidade do Futebol, Jesus explained that the captaincy would be determined by the number of international appearances, with Silva leading the group of experienced players.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, there are five players with the most caps. Interestingly, all five of them have played for me at the clubs I\u2019ve coached. We\u2019ll stick with the same approach,\u201d Jesus said.<\/p>\n
Silva, who has earned 115 international caps, is followed by Bruno Fernandes with 97, R\u00faben Dias with 84, Jo\u00e3o Cancelo with 77 and R\u00faben Neves with 73.\n<\/p>\n
Jesus confirmed that the five players would form Portugal\u2019s leadership group, with the remaining captaincy responsibilities shared according to their international experience.\n<\/p>\n
The appointment comes after Ronaldo announced his retirement from international football on Thursday, bringing an end to a remarkable 23-year career with Portugal.\n<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old finished his international career with 234 appearances and a record 146 goals for the national team. He also captained Portugal to the 2016 European Championship title and two UEFA Nations League triumphs.\n<\/p>\n
Silva paid tribute to Ronaldo following the announcement, describing it as a privilege to have played alongside the legendary forward.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was without a doubt a great pride and pleasure to have played by your side for so many years. You are an inspiration to all of us. Thank you for everything,\u201d Silva wrote on Instagram.\n<\/p>\n
Jesus also expressed confidence in Silva\u2019s ability to lead the team, praising his experience, quality and current form at Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
\u201cBernardo is a player with a lot of experience, with a lot of quality, who is in good form at Real Madrid. He is a starter in one of the best teams in the world,\u201d the Portugal coach said.\n<\/p>\n
Silva has previously captained Portugal in Ronaldo\u2019s absence and will now take on the responsibility permanently as the European champions begin their next phase without their long-serving leader.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
Real Madrid midfielder Bernardo Silva has been named Portugal\u2019s new national team captain following Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s retirement from international football, head coach Jorge Jesus has confirmed. Jesus announced the decision… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}