Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, nicknamed CR7, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, he has won numerous individual accolades throughout his career, including five Ballon d'Ors, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, and four European Golden Shoes. He was also named the world's best player five times by FIFA. He has won 34 trophies in his career, including five UEFA Champions Leagues and the UEFA European Championship. He holds the records for most goals and assists in the Champions League, goals and assists in the European Championship, and most international appearances and international goals. He is the only player to have scored 100 goals with four different clubs. He has made over 1,300 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 960 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.
Born in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo began his career with Sporting CP before signing with Manchester United in 2003. He became a star player at United, where he won three consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup. His 2007–08 season earned him his first Ballon d'Or at age 23. In 2009, Ronaldo became the subject of the then-most expensive transfer in history when he joined Real Madrid in a deal worth €94 million. At Madrid, he was at the forefront of the club's resurgence as a dominant European force, helping them win four Champions Leagues between 2014 and 2018, including the long-awaited La Décima. He also won two La Liga titles, including the record-breaking 2011–12 season in which Madrid reached 100 points, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer. He won Ballon d'Ors in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017, and was runner-up three times to Lionel Messi, his perceived career rival. Following issues with the club hierarchy, Ronaldo signed for Juventus in 2018 in a transfer worth an initial €100 million, where he was pivotal in winning two Serie A titles. In 2021, he returned to United before joining Al-Nassr in 2023.
Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18 and has earned more than 200 caps, making him history's most-capped male player. He has played in eleven major tournaments. He scored his first international goal in Euro 2004, where he helped Portugal reach the final and subsequently made the team of the tournament. He assumed captaincy of the national team ahead of Euro 2008; and at Euro 2012, he was named in the team of the tournament. Ronaldo led Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016, being named in the team of the tournament for the third time. In the 2018 World Cup, he had his most prolific World Cup campaign with four goals. He received the Golden Boot as the top scorer of Euro 2020 before playing in his fifth World Cup at the 2022 World Cup. He has won two UEFA Nations Leagues, in 2019 and 2025.
One of the world's most marketable and famous athletes, Ronaldo was ranked the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes on five occasions, 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. He is the most popular sportsperson on social media: he counts over 1 billion total followers across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, making him the first person to achieve that feat. Ronaldo was named in the UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year in 2015, the All-time UEFA Euro XI in 2016, and the Ballon d'Or Dream Team in 2020. In recognition of his record-breaking goalscoring success, he received special awards for Outstanding Career Achievement by FIFA in 2021 and Champions League All-Time Top Scorer by UEFA in 2024.
Early life
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 in the São Pedro parish of Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira, and grew up in the nearby parish of Santo António. He is the fourth and youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros Aveiro, who worked as a cook in the hospitality industry and a cleaning woman, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener at the Junta de Freguesia of Santo António and part-time kit man for football club Andorinha. His father served in the Portuguese Army during the Portuguese Colonial War and saw combat in Angola, he was traumatized by his experiences as a soldier which led to lifelong struggles with alcoholism. Ronaldo has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia "Kátia". He was named after actor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, whom his father was a fan of. 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. Ronaldo grew up in an impoverished Catholic home, sharing a room with all his siblings.As a child, Ronaldo played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995, where his father was the kit man, 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. He subsequently moved from Madeira to Lisbon to join Sporting CP's youth system. By age 14, while struggling with his school duties and responsibilities in Escola EB2 de Telheiras, his school in the Telheiras area of Lisbon, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally and agreed with his mother and his tutor at Sporting CP, Leonel Pontes, to cease his education to focus entirely on football.
With a troubled life as a student, and although living in Lisbon area away from his Madeiran family, he did not complete schooling beyond the 6th grade. While popular with other students at school, he had been expelled after throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him. One year later, he was diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that could have forced him to give up playing football. Ronaldo underwent heart surgery where a laser was used to cauterise multiple cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart rate. He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed training a few days later. In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, stated in an interview for Sporting CP's official television channel that her son would be a bricklayer if he had not become a professional football player.
Growing up, Ronaldo idolised the Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, and has described them as leaving "a beautiful history in football".
Club career
Sporting CP
After impressing in Sporting's youth teams, he was promoted to the main team by first-team manager László Bölöni. At age 17, on 14 August 2002, he played his first official match for the first team, in a UEFA Champions League qualifying round at José Alvalade Stadium against Inter Milan, and his Primeira Liga debut, took place a month later against Braga, and on 7 October, he scored two goals against Moreirense in their 3–0 win. Over the course of the 2002–03 season, his representatives suggested the player to Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and Barcelona president Joan Laporta. Manager Arsène Wenger, who was interested in signing Ronaldo, met with him at Arsenal's stadium in November to discuss a possible transfer.Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was determined to acquire Ronaldo on a permanent move urgently, after Sporting defeated United 3–1 at the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade on 6 August 2003. Initially, United had planned to sign Ronaldo and loan him back to Sporting for a year. Having been impressed by him, the United players urged Ferguson to sign him. After the game, Ferguson said Ronaldo was "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen.
Manchester United
2003–2007: Development and breakthrough
On 12 August 2003, less than a week after the friendly that impressed Ferguson, Manchester United signed Ronaldo for £12 million, an England record for a teenager. This also made him the first Portuguese player to sign for the club.Although he requested the number 28, his number at Sporting, he received the squad number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by such United players as George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Wearing the number 7 became an extra source of motivation for Ronaldo. A key element in his development during his time in England proved to be Ferguson, of whom he later said: "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important and influential factors in my career."
File:Ronaldo - Manchester United vs Chelsea.jpg|thumb|left|Ronaldo playing for Manchester United against Chelsea during the 2005–06 Premier League season
Ronaldo made his debut as a substitute in a 4–0 home win over Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League on 16 August 2003. His performance earned praise from Best, who hailed it as "undoubtedly the most exciting debut" he had ever seen. Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free-kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November. On 15 May 2004, in a victory against Aston Villa, Ronaldo scored the opening goal and later received the first red card of his career. Ronaldo ended his first season in English football with a trophy, scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0 win over Millwall in the 2004 FA Cup Final. BBC pundit Alan Hansen described him as the star of the final. The British press had been critical of Ronaldo during the season for his "elaborate" step-overs in trying to beat opponents, but teammate Gary Neville said he was "not a show pony, but the real thing", and predicted he would become a world-class player.
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. Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football, the Football League Cup, after scoring the third goal in United's 4–0 final win over Wigan Athletic.
During his third season in England, Ronaldo was involved in several incidents. Ronaldo clashed with a teammate, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who took offence at the winger's showboating style of play. Following the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in which he was involved in an incident where club teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off, Ronaldo publicly asked for a transfer, lamenting the lack of support he felt he had received from the club over the incident. United denied the possibility of him leaving the club. Although his World Cup altercation with Rooney resulted in Ronaldo being booed throughout the 2006–07 season, it proved to be his break-out year, as he broke the 20-goal barrier for the first time and won his first Premier League title.