False! SUI Celebration has not been banned in Argentina

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Claim: A Facebook post claims Cristiano Ronaldo’s “sui” trademark celebration has been banned in Argentina.

Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s findings reveal that no law has banned the sui celebration in Argentinian Football. FIFA rules state that a national FA must seek permission from the International Football Association Board (IFAB) before modifications. The Law of the Game 24/25 edition does not capture the ban on the Sui celebration.

Full Text

Cristiano Ronaldo, a world football icon, is the originator of the trademark SUI celebration. The Portuguese is believed to have first screamed SUI after winning the 2014 Ballon d’Or, his third time winning the individual award. He is noted for pulling off the celebration anytime he scores. His fans and several other football and sports athletes worldwide have copied the celebration.

In an interview, the official global brand ambassador for LiveScore told Goal.com that SUII means “yes” in Portuguese.

“It seems to have grown into its own global phenomenon—and I love when I see other players doing it, or people send me videos of people in other sports doing it or little kids doing it. It’s great. It means yes, very simple, but meaning it strongly,” he added in an interview with LiveScore.

A Facebook user, Waheed Aryans, claims in a post that the iconic football goal celebration by Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo has been banned in Argentinian football.

As of Feb. 3, 2025, the post had garnered 2,600 likes and reactions, 489 comments, and 249 shares.

DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim in its efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation.

Verification

According to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the game’s laws are similar worldwide.

“The same laws apply to every match in every confederation, country, town, and village and, apart from the modifications permitted by The IFAB,” page 17 of the Laws of the Game 2021/2022 posits.

National Football Associations (FA) are allowed some modifications, but only with the approval of the IFAB. The national FA must furnish the International Football Association Board with the reasons for the modification and at which levels.

Goal celebrations are part of football after netting the ball. However, FIFA does not allow goal celebrations characterised by excessive behaviour. The World Football regulator changed the law on goal celebrations in 2004. Any player who removes their shirt during a goal celebration was administered a yellow card. This included pulling a shirt over a player’s head. Performing provocative or inflammatory behaviour calls for caution or sanctions. Also, a player can be yellow-carded for climbing onto a perimeter fence. Find other goal-celebration acts that warrant caution on page 104 of the Game’s Laws.

DUBAWA’s checks revealed that as of Feb. 3, 2025, FIFA had not released any new regulation banning the SUI celebration in Argentinian football. On page 112, the laws of the Game 24/25 edition maintained the same goal celebration laws as stated in previous editions.

Also, we searched for any statement on the ban on the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino’s (AFA) web page. However, there was no such news. Further, we contacted Diego Santonovich, spokesperson for Liga Profesional de Futbol, Argentina’s first division league, who confirmed to DUBAWA that there are no such new rules in Argentinian football.

“It’s a lie: nobody in Argentina banned the Ronaldo-style celebration. And no player has ever been reprimanded for doing that celebration,” he said.

He added that there’s no justification for sanctioning the player celebrating once the player’s celebration does not represent direct aggression to rival team fans.