Full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro[1]
Date of birth 5 February 1985 (age 35) [2]
Place of birth Funchal , Madeira, Portugal
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) [note 1]
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team Juventus
Number 7
Youth career
1992–1995 Andorinha
1995–1997 Nacional
1997–2002 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002 Sporting CP B 2 (0)
2002–2003 Sporting CP 25 (3)
2003–2009 Manchester United 196 (
2009–2018 Real Madrid 292 (311)
2018– Juventus 64 (52)
National team ‡
2001 Portugal U15 9 (7)
2001–2002 Portugal U17 7 (5)
2003 Portugal U20 5 (1)
2002–2003 Portugal U21 10 (3)
2004 Portugal U23 3 (2)
2003– Portugal 165 (101)
Honours
Men's football
Representing Portugal
UEFA European Championship
Winner 2016 France
Runner-up 2004 Portugal
2012 Poland-Ukraine [note 2]
UEFA Nations League
Winner 2019 Portugal
FIFA Confederations Cup
2017 Russia
Born and raised in Madeira, Ronaldo began his senior club career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, aged 18. After winning the FA Cup in his first season, he helped United win three successive
Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup ; at age 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or. In 2009, Ronaldo was the subject of the then- most expensive association football transfer when signed for Real Madrid in a transfer worth €94 million (£80 million). There, Ronaldo won 15 trophies, including two La Liga titles, two
Copas del Rey , and four UEFA Champions League titles, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer . After joining Madrid, Ronaldo finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or three times, behind Lionel Messi —his perceived
career rival—before winning back-to-back Ballons d'Or from 2013 –2014 and again from
2016 – 2017 . After winning a third consecutive Champions League title in 2018, Ronaldo became the first player to win the trophy five times. [14] In 2018, he signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million (£88 million), the highest ever paid by an Italian club and the highest ever paid for a player over 30 years old. He won the Serie A in his first two seasons with the club.
A Portuguese international, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015. He made his senior debut in 2003 at age 18, and has since earned over 160 caps , including appearing and scoring in ten major tournaments, becoming Portugal's most capped player and his country's all-time top goalscorer . He scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 and helped Portugal reach
the final of the competition. He assumed full captaincy in July 2008, leading Portugal to their first-ever triumph in a major tournament by winning Euro 2016 , and received the Silver Boot as the second-highest goalscorer of the tournament.
One of the most marketable and famous athletes in the world, Ronaldo was ranked the
world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 and the world's most famous athlete by ESPN from 2016 to 2019. Time included him on their list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014. Ronaldo is the first footballer, as well as only the third sportsman, to earn $1 billion in their career. [15]
Early life
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born in São Pedro , Funchal , on the Portuguese island of Madeira, and grew up in Santo António , Funchal. [16][17] He is the fourth and youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros da Aveiro (b. 1954), a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro (1953–2005), a municipal gardener and part-time kit man . [18] His great-grandmother on his father's side, Isabel da Piedade, was from the island of São Vicente,
Cape Verde. [19] He has one older brother, Hugo (b. 1975), and two older sisters, Elma (b. 1973) and Liliana Cátia "Katia" (b. 1977), who is a singer. [20] His mother revealed that she wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father's alcoholism and having too many children already, but her doctor refused to perform the procedure. [21] Ronaldo grew up in a Catholic and impoverished home, sharing a room with all his siblings. [22] The name Ronaldo was added to Cristiano's name in honour of his father's favourite movie actor,
Ronald Reagan , who was U.S. president at the time of Cristiano's birth. [23]
As a child, Ronaldo played for amateur team
Andorinha from 1992 to 1995, [24] where his father was the kit man, [18] and later spent two years with Nacional. In 1997, aged 12, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, who signed him for a fee of £1,500. [25] He subsequently moved from Madeira to
Alcochete , near Lisbon , to join Sporting's other youth players at the club's football academy . [25] By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally, and agreed with his mother to cease his education in order to focus entirely on football. [26] While popular with other students at school, he had been expelled after throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him. [26] However, one year later, he was diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that could have forced him to give up playing football. [27] Ronaldo underwent heart surgery where a laser was used to cauterise multiple
cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart rate. [28] He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed training a few days later.
Ronaldo memorabilia at Sporting CP's museum
At age 16, Ronaldo was promoted from Sporting's youth team by first-team manager
László Bölöni , who was impressed with his dribbling. [31] He subsequently became the first player to play for the club's under-16, under-17 and under-18 teams, the B team, and the first team, all within a single season. [25] A year later, on 7 October 2002, Ronaldo made his debut in the Primeira Liga , against Moreirense , and scored two goals in their 3–0 win. [32] Over the course of the 2002–03 season, his representatives suggested the player to
Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and
Barcelona president Joan Laporta . [33] Manager Arsène Wenger, who was interested in signing the winger, met with him at
Arsenal 's grounds in November to discuss a possible transfer. [34]
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, however, was determined to acquire Ronaldo on a permanent move urgently, after Sporting defeated United 3–1 at the inauguration of the
Estádio José Alvalade in August 2003. Initially, United had just planned to sign Ronaldo and then loan him back to Sporting for a year. [35] Having been impressed by him, however, the Manchester United players urged Ferguson to sign him. After the game, Ferguson agreed to pay Sporting £12.24 million [35] for what he considered to be "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen. [36] A decade after his departure from the club, in April 2013, Sporting honoured Ronaldo by selecting him to become their 100,000th member. [37]
Manchester United
2003–07: Development and breakthrough
Ronaldo became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed before the
2003–04 season. [38] His transfer fee of £12.24 million made him, at the time, the most expensive teenager in English football history. [39] Although he requested the number 28, his number at Sporting, he received the
number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by such United players as George Best ,
Eric Cantona and David Beckham . [40] Wearing the number 7 became an extra source of motivation for Ronaldo. [41] A key element in his development during his time in England proved to be his manager, Alex Ferguson, of whom he later said, "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important and influential factors in my career."
Ronaldo playing for Manchester United against Chelsea in the 2005–06 Premier League season
Ronaldo made his debut in the Premier League in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers on 16 August 2003, receiving a standing ovation when he came on as a 60th-minute substitute for Nicky Butt . [43] His performance earned praise from George Best, who hailed it as "undoubtedly the most exciting debut" he had ever seen. [44] Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free-kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November. [45] Three other league goals followed in the second half of the campaign, [46] the last of which came against
Aston Villa on the final day of the season, a match in which he also received his first red card . [47] Ronaldo ended his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0 victory over Millwall in the FA Cup final, earning his first trophy. [48]
At the start of 2005, Ronaldo played two of his best matches of the 2004–05 season , producing a goal and an assist against Aston Villa and scoring twice against rivals Arsenal. [49][50] He played the full 120 minutes of the decisive match against Arsenal in the FA Cup final, which ended in a goalless draw, and scored his attempt in the lost penalty shootout . [51] He scored Manchester United's 1000th Premier League goal on 29 October, their only strike in a 4–1 loss to
Middlesbrough. [52] Midway through the season, in November, he signed a new contract which extended his previous deal by two years to 2010. [53] Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football, the Football League Cup , after scoring the third goal in United's 4–0 final victory over Wigan Athletic. [54]
During his third season in England, Ronaldo was involved in several incidents. He had a one-match ban imposed on him by UEFA for a " one-fingered gesture" towards Benfica fans, [55] and was sent off in the Manchester derby (a 3–1 defeat) for kicking Manchester City 's former United player Andy Cole . [56] Ronaldo clashed with a teammate, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy , who took offence at the winger's showboating style of play. [57] Following the 2006 FIFA World Cup , in which he was involved in an incident where club teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off, [58] Ronaldo publicly asked for a transfer, lamenting the lack of support he felt he had received from the club over the incident. [59] United, however, denied the possibility of him leaving the club. [60]
Although his World Cup altercation with Rooney resulted in Ronaldo being booed throughout the 2006–07 season , [61] it proved to be his breakout year, as he broke the 20-goal barrier for the first time and won his first
Premier League title . An important factor in this success was his one-to-one training by first-team coach René Meulensteen , who taught him to make himself more unpredictable, improve his teamwork, call for the ball, and capitalise on goalscoring opportunities rather than waiting for the chance to score the aesthetically pleasing goals for which he was already known. [62] He scored three consecutive braces at the end of December, against Aston Villa (a victory that put United on top of the league), Wigan Athletic and Reading. [63][64][65] Ronaldo was named the Premier League Player of the Month in November and December, becoming only the third player to receive consecutive honours
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