Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese footballer, striker and captain of the Saudi club Al-Nassr and the Portuguese national team.
Place of birth
He was born on February 5, 1985 in the city of Funchal, the capital of the autonomous region of Madeira.
He was the youngest child in the family of Maria Dolor dos Santos Aveiro and José Dinis Aveiro.
Football career
When Cristiano was 8 years old, he played for the amateur team Andorinha, in which his father was engaged in providing equipment for players. In 1995, he signed a contract with the Nacional club. At the end of the season, Ronaldo was invited to undergo a screening at Sporting, which is located in Lisbon, and later the capital club signed a contract with him.
During the season, Cristiano became the only Sporting player who simultaneously played for the under-16, under-17 and under-18 youth teams, the reserve team and the main team.
Manchester United
When Ronaldo was 16 years old, the head coach of the English “Liverpool” Gerard Houllier became interested in him. However, the club’s management decided not to sign a contract, believing that the Portuguese player still needed to improve his skills. In the summer, Sporting played a match against Manchester United. After the first half of the game, the players of the English club convinced Alex Ferguson to buy him. In that meeting, Sporting defeated Manchester United.
After that, the Manchester club signed a contract with Ronaldo worth £11.24 million. The footballer played his first game for the English team, coming on as a substitute in the match against Bolton Wanderers.
At the end of the 2003/2004 campaign, he received the Sir Matt Busby Prize, which is awarded to the best player of the season according to the results of the fans’ vote. The award was his first personal award in his career.
At the 2004 European Championship, Ronaldo played as part of the Portuguese national team, where he scored two goals. In the final game against the Greek national team, he entered the field at the age of 19 years and 150 days, becoming the youngest footballer to participate in the final match of the Euro.
On April 13, 2007, after the end of the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo extended his contract with Manchester United, despite an offer from Real Madrid, which was ready to pay 8 million euros for him. The new deal with the English club provided for a five-year term, as well as an increase in his weekly salary to 120 thousand pounds, which made the Portuguese the highest-paid player in the Manchester United squad.
According to the results of the 2006/2007 season, Ronaldo was recognized as the best player of the English Professional Football Association. In the same season, he also won the title of the best young player of the association, received the award for the best footballer of the year according to English football journalists, and the fans named him the best player of the club for the second time.
In the 2007/2008 season, Ronaldo was again recognized as the best player of the English Professional Football Association. He managed to surpass the achievements of George Best, who was the only Manchester United midfielder to score 32 goals for the club. Ronaldo scored 31 times in English Premier League matches, making him the most prolific player in the championship in the 2007/2008 season.
In addition, he became the first midfielder who managed to win the Golden Boot award. At the end of that season, the Portuguese also received the Ballon d’Or. Manchester United fans voted him the team’s best player for the third time, again giving him the Sir Matt Busby Prize.
On May 21, 2008, Ronaldo, together with Manchester United, won the UEFA Champions League, beating the English club Chelsea in the final.
In June 2008, information appeared in the media that Ronaldo could move to Real Madrid if the Spanish club agreed to provide him with the desired salary. In response, Manchester United filed a formal complaint with FIFA regarding Real Madrid’s intentions to lure the player, but the international federation refused to take action.
On August 28, 2008, UEFA recognized Ronaldo as the best forward and the best footballer of the year. And on January 12, 2009, he was named the best player of 2008 according to FIFA.
Real Madrid
On June 26, 2009, Manchester United and Real Madrid officially signed an agreement for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish club. According to the terms of the contract, he was supposed to play for Real Madrid for six seasons with an annual salary of 13 million euros. This amount was a record.
Juventus
In July 2018, Ronaldo left the Madrid club and joined Juventus, which paid 112 million euros for the transfer. Already in his first season in Italy, he became the champion of the country, won the Italian Super Cup, and was also recognized as the best footballer of the year in Italy and the most valuable player of the season in Serie A.
On August 27, 2021, Manchester United announced that they had reached an agreement with Juventus regarding Ronaldo’s return to the English club.
In December 2022, the Portuguese signed a two-year deal with the Al-Nasr club from Saudi Arabia.
Style of play and achievements
Many experts consider Ronaldo to be one of the most versatile and technical players in the world. Its strong point is the ability to act effectively with both feet, delivering powerful and accurate blows. In addition, Ronaldo is regularly noted for a productive header.
Also, his free kicks attract attention: the ball flies at high speed, first rising up, and in front of the goal it drops sharply.
Among Ronaldo’s achievements are numerous individual awards:
- the best football player in the world according to FIFA – 2008, 2016, 2017;
- winner of the Ballon d’Or – five times: in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017;
- Four-time winner of the “Golden Boot”: 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015;
- six times he ended the year second in the world ranking of football players (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018), and in 2019 he became the third;
- the best young player of Euro 2004;
Marital Status
Since 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo has been in a relationship with Russian supermodel Irina Shayk. In January 2015, it became known that the couple had broken up.
On June 17, 2010, he became a father for the first time. His son – Cristiano Jr. – was born thanks to surrogacy.
In March 2017, information appeared that the footballer would soon become a father again – this time he was expecting the birth of twins, who were also to be born by a surrogate mother. On June 8, 2017, he had twins – the girl was named Eva, and the boy was named Matthew.
In November 2017, his then-girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez gave birth to a daughter.
In October 2021, Ronaldo revealed that Rodriguez was pregnant with twins. In April 2022, they had a daughter, but the son died during childbirth.
