Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo
Not to be confused with Brazilian footballer Ronaldo.

This person's surname is Santos Aveiro, not Ronaldo.
This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Santos and
the second or paternal family name is Aveiro.
Cristiano Ronaldo
GOIH, ComM
Ronaldo in 2015
Personal information
Full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro[1]
Date of birth 5 February 1985 (age 33)[2]
Place of birth Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[3]
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team Real Madrid
Number 7
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH, ComM (European Portuguese: [kɾiʃˈtjɐnu ʁoˈnaɫdu];
born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for
Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. Often considered the best player in
the world and widely considered to be the greatest of all time,[note 1] Ronaldo has five Ballon
d'Orawards,[note 2] the most for a European player and is tied for most all-time. He is the first
player in history to win four European Golden Shoes. He has won 25 trophies in his career,
including five league titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and one UEFA European
Championship. A prolific goalscorer, Ronaldo holds the records for most official goals scored in
the top five European leagues (385), the UEFA Champions League (117), the UEFA European
Championship (29) and the FIFA Club World Cup (7), as well as most goals scored in a UEFA
Champions League season (17). He has scored more than 600 senior career goals for club
and country.
Born and raised on the Portuguese island of Madeira, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing
heart at age 15. He underwent an operation to treat his condition, and began his senior club
career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester Unitedat age 18 in 2003. He
helped United win three successive Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League title,
and a FIFA Club World Cup. By age 22, he had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of
the Year nominations and at age 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the
Year awards. In 2009, Ronaldo was the subject of the most expensive association football
transfer[note 3] when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth
€94 million (£80 million).
In Spain, Ronaldo has won 14 trophies, including two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles,
three Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups. After
joining Real Madrid, Ronaldo finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Orthree times, behind Lionel
Messi, his perceived career rival, before winning back-to-back Ballons d'Or in 2013 and 2014.
He has scored a record 32 La Liga hat-tricks, including a record-tying eight hat-tricks in
the 2014–15 season[note 4] and is the only player to reach 30 league goals in six consecutive La
Liga seasons. In 2014, Ronaldo became the fastest player in history to reach 200 La Liga
goals, which he achieved in 178 matches. In 2015, he became the club's all-time leading
goalscorer. In 2016, Ronaldo won his fourth Ballon d'Or by a record voting margin after
sealing La Undécima, Madrid's 11th European title, and winning Euro 2016.
A Portuguese international, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by
the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015. Ronaldo made his senior international debut in
August 2003, at age 18. He is Portugal's most capped player of all time with over 140 caps,
and has participated in seven major tournaments. He is Portugal's all-time top goalscorer. He
scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 and helped Portugal reach the final. He took
over 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 sportsmen, he was ranked
the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017, as well as the world's most
famous athlete by ESPN in 2016 and 2017.
Early life
Ronaldo was born in São Pedro, Funchal, and grew up in the Funchal parish of Santo
António,[4][5][6] as the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis
Aveiro, a municipal gardener and a part-time kit man.[7] His second given name, "Ronaldo",
was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan.[8] He has one older brother, Hugo, and
two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.[2] His great-grandmother on his father's side, Isabel
da Piedade, was from São Vicente, Cape Verde.[9] Ronaldo grew up in a Catholic and
impoverished home, sharing a room with his brother and sisters.[10]
As a child, Ronaldo played for amateur team Andorinha from 1992 to 1995,[11][12] where his
father was the kit man,[13] 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.[14][15] He subsequently
moved from Madeira to Alcochete, near Lisbon, to join Sporting's other youth players at the
club's football academy.[16] 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.[17] While popular with other students at school, he had been expelled after throwing a
chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him.[17] However, one year later, he was
diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that could have forced him to give up playing
football. He underwent an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the affected area of
his heart; discharged from hospital hours after the procedure, he resumed training only a few
days late

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Cristiano Ronaldo

Not to be confused with Brazilian footballer Ronaldo.

Full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro[1]

Date of birth 5 February 1985 (age 33)[2]

Place of birth Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[3]

Playing position Forward

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