Background

Ethnicity: Cristiano Ronaldo has Portuguese and Cape Verdean ancestry.

Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, a small island off the western coast of the country. He is the youngest of four children born to Maria Dolores dos Santos, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener and part-time kit man. Ronaldo has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia "Katia".

Education

Ronaldo grew up in a largely working-class neighborhood in a small tin-roofed home. He was introduced to the game of soccer through his dad, who worked as an equipment manager at a boy's club. At six, he joined the local primary school. For secondary school, he attended Gonçalves Zarco, better known as the Barreiros school. Ronaldo mostly received good grades. He loved science but did not like English. By the time he was 10 years old, Ronaldo was already recognized as a phenomenon - a kid who ate, slept and drank soccer.

At the age of 14, Ronaldo was expelled from school for throwing a chair at a teacher. He believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally and agreed with his mother to focus entirely on football.

Career

Ronaldo first played for Clube Desportivo Nacional of Madeira and then transferred to Sporting Clube de Portugal (known as Sporting Lisbon), where he played for that club's various youth teams before making his debut on Sporting's first team in 2002.

Ronaldo was a formidable athlete on the pitch. Originally a right-winger, he developed into a forward with a free-reined attacking style. He was able to mesmerize opponents with a sleight of the foot that made sufficient space for openings in opposing defenses.

After a successful season with Sporting that brought the young player to the attention of Europe's biggest football clubs, Ronaldo signed with English powerhouse Manchester United in 2003. Despite initially asking for the number 28 shirt, Alex Ferguson, then manager of the club, insisted that he wear the famous number 7 shirt.

At Manchester United, Ronaldo's career steadily progressed. In the 2006-2007 season, Ronaldo was a key figure in Manchester's successful league campaign. Ronaldo scored over 20 goals, as he won his first championship. In March 2007, his prowess helped him to gain a record-breaking £120,000 a week five-year contract.

His finest season with United came in 2007-2008, when he scored 42 League and Cup goals and earned the Golden Shoe award as Europe's leading scorer, with 31 League goals. After helping United to a Champions League title in May 2008, Ronaldo captured the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year honours for his stellar 2007-2008 season. He also led United to an appearance in the 2009 Champions League final, which they lost to FC Barcelona.

Soon thereafter Ronaldo was sold to Spain's Real Madrid - a club with which he had long been rumoured to want to play - for a then-record £80 million (about $131 million) transfer fee. His scoring prowess continued with his new team, and he netted the most goals (40) in La Liga history during the 2010-2011 season (his record was broken the following season by his rival Lionel Messi of Barcelona). In 2011-2012 Ronaldo helped Madrid capture a La Liga championship and scored a personal-best 46 goals during the League season. He scored a total of 66 goals in 56 appearances with Madrid and the Portuguese national team in 2013. In 2014 he scored 52 goals in 43 games and led Madrid to a Champions League title. In 2014-2015 he netted 48 goals to lead La Liga in scoring. Ronaldo netted his 324th goal as a member of Real in October 2015 to become the club's all-time leading goal scorer. He scored 35 La Liga goals in 2015-2016 and helped Real win its record 11th Champions League title, and in December 2016 he won a fourth career Ballon d'Or for his accomplishments. Ronaldo scored 42 goals for Real across all competitions in 2016-2017 and led his team to La Liga and Champions League titles that season. In 2017-2018 he scored 44 goals in 44 games, and Real won a third straight Champions League title. In July 2018 he reached a four-year contract worth €112 million (about $132 million) with the Italian powerhouse Juventus. He finished his Real career with 311 goals in 292 matches. He scored 28 goals in his first season with Juventus - his lowest domestic goal total since his last season with Manchester United - as the powerhouse club won its eighth straight Italian league title.

On his home soil, after moving through the youth and under-21 ranks, Ronaldo had made his first appearance for Portugal's full national team against Kazakhstan in August 2003 (four days after his debut for United). He was a key player in Portugal's fourth-place finish at the 2006 World Cup and became the full-time captain of the national team in 2008. In 2012 his stellar play led Portugal to the semifinals of the European Championship, where his team was eliminated by rival Spain in a match that was decided by a penalty kick shoot-out. Ronaldo came into the 2014 World Cup hot off of his second world player of the year win, but his play at the tournament was spotty, and the entire Portugal team struggled during a group-stage elimination. In 2016 he helped Portugal win the European Championship, the country's first major international tournament title, although he only played sparingly in the final because of a knee injury that he had sustained early in the match. Ronaldo played brilliantly at the 2018 World Cup, scoring four goals in four games as Portugal advanced to the knockout round only to lose its first match of that stage to a strong defensive Uruguay side.

Ronaldo is one of the most well-known sports stars off the field, and numerous studies of athletes' popularity showed that he was the most beloved athlete in the world during his playing peak. His extreme popularity made Ronaldo one of the highest-paid endorsers in sports history, and in November 2016 he became the third person (after basketball superstars Michael Jordan and LeBron James) to earn a "lifetime" contract from the sportswear company Nike. Moreover, he established his own successful "CR7" brand of products that included shoes, underwear, and fragrances.

Achievements

• 

  Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, the fastest Real Madrid player to reach one hundred league goals, and the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga. He also holds the record for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid.
  
  Ronaldo was the first player playing in England to win all four main Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Association awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008 and 2013, Ronaldo won the Fédération Internationale de Football Association Ballon d'Or award for the best footballer on the planet, being the first-ever Portuguese to win the award twice. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in both 2008 and 2011. In 2008, he won three of the four main Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Association trophies and was named the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Player of the Year, FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or winner. In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo was the inaugural winner of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association Puskás Award for the Goal of the Year in 2009.
  
  He became the most expensive footballer in history when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$131.6 million). Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Moments

    (Cristiano Ronaldo is the world-famous Manchester United a...)

    2007

Religion

Ronaldo is a Roman Catholic. He is marginally religious. His family is certainly religious. There were reports about his strongly Catholic family's disappointment over Ronaldo's decision to obtain sole custody of his son - a job they feel is best suited for a mother and a father.

Ronaldo had his son baptized.

Politics

Ronaldo is unconcerned with politics. The closest he's gotten to being political is playing in a football match for Real Madrid against Barcelona amidst cries for Catalonian independence. But he didn't make any comments on the situation.

Views

Ronaldo supports various charities for children, AIDS research, disaster relief and education. In 2008, after accepting undisclosed damages from a libel case against The Sun newspaper in 2008, Ronaldo donated the damages to a charity in Madeira. The next year he donated £100,000 to the hospital in Madeira, so that they could build a cancer center on the island. In 2012, Ronaldo joined FIFA's "11 for Health" program to raise awareness amongst kids of how to steer clear of conditions including drug addiction, HIV, malaria and obesity.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world's most charitable sportsperson in 2015. He donated £5 million to the relief effort after the earthquake in Nepal which killed over 8,000 people. In 2016, he donated a €600,000 Champions League bonus. In the same year, Ronaldo also launched CR7Selfie, a selfie app for a charity to help Save the Children that lets participants take a selfie with him in one of several different outfits and poses.

Quotations: "I'm living a dream I never want to wake up from."

"I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans, but also to feel satisfied with myself. It is my conviction that here are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age."

"Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable."

"Don Alfredo leaves us, but his memory will last forever in our hearts. Legends never die. Thanks for everything Maestro."

"To be the best you need the best."

"If you think you're perfect already, then you never will be."

"I see football as an art and all players are artists. If you are a top artist, the last thing you would do is paint a picture somebody else has already painted."

"Dedication, hard work all the time, and belief."

"I would be very proud if, one day, I'm held in the same esteem as George Best or Beckham. It's what I'm working hard towards."

"Lots of young players have triumphed at United, so why can't it happen to me? I'm not worried I'm young - it's an incentive to do the best I can."

"The number 7 shirt is an honor and a responsibility. I hope it brings me a lot of luck."

"There is no harm in dreaming of becoming the world's best player. It is all about trying to be the best. I will keep working hard to achieve it but it is within my capabilities."

"I've never tried to hide the fact that it is my intention to be the best."

"Maybe they hate me because I'm too good!"

Personality

Ronaldo is impatient. He doesn't like to lose. Cristiano is also a footballer known to be intolerant of others. Spanish media and fans consistently criticized him for his arrogance.

Cristiano knows Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Cristiano Ronaldo's favorite actress is Angelina Jolie.

Ronaldo does not smoke nor does he have any tattoos on his body which he chose not to get any because he regularly donates blood.

He also does not drink alcohol.

Cristiano Ronaldo's net worth is $450 million.

Physical Characteristics: Cristiano Ronaldo is 6 ft 1 ¼ in (186 cm) tall and weighs 83 kg (183 lbs). He has black hair and hazel eyes.

At the age of 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. He had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterize the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from the hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.

Cristiano Ronaldo's body fat is about 10 percent which makes him the perfect machine for fast sprinting and athletic courses. His free-kick speed is about 13.1 kmph, which is compared roughly with the speed of a space shuttle while launching. Ronaldo lifts around 23,055 kg of weight during a training session, which is a total of 16 Toyota Prius cars.

Quotes from others about the person

• Sir Alex Ferguson: "After we played Sporting last week, the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him. That's how highly they rated him."
  
  Eusebio: "He has magic in his boots. The first thing you notice about him is that he is incredibly quick and very, very powerful for such a young man. He has great, close control and his technique is excellent. He believes he can do anything with the ball, and that confidence makes him very special indeed."
  
  Jose Mourinho: "He is the best. The best in the world, yes. Probably the best ever. I saw Maradona a couple of times. I never saw Pele. But Cristiano is amazing. This man is the best... Cristiano is a goals machine. He is an incredible player. He is like Zidane, there will never be another Ronaldo."
  
  Pele: "Ronaldo has come through for the past two or three years and is the best in Europe. I think at the moment no doubt Ronaldo is the best player."
  
  Ryan Giggs: "When Cristiano Ronaldo gets the ball, you can just leave him to it while he beats player after player."
  
  Bobby Charlton: "He does things I have never seen from any other player and it really is marvelous to watch. It takes a great player to grab the bull by the horns and make things happen, but he has done it repeatedly."
  
  Luis Figo: "Ronaldo can do whatever he wants as a footballer. There are some things he does with the ball that make me touch my head and wonder how he did it."
  
  Florentino Perez: "Cristiano Ronaldo is priceless."
  
  Fernando Torres: "For me he is the best player in the world. A machine. Incomparable."
  
  Henrik Larsson: "He makes the most difficult plays look easy."
  
  Carlo Ancelotti: "Cristiano is unique for his talent and professionalism - he is also extraordinarily consistent… [He] is an outstanding professional. He's committed to the team and the club, he doesn't talk much, but he is a leader."
  
  Wayne Rooney: "In the time I've been playing with Ronnie, the one thing I've noticed about him is that he can't walk past his reflection without admiring it, even if we're about to play a game of football."
  
  Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Ronaldo is one of the fittest athletes in the world."

Interests

• collecting cars, music, fashion

• Sport & Clubs

  football

• Athletes

  Luis Figo

• Music & Bands

  Brazilian music, Elton John, George Michael, Phil Collins

Connections

From 2010 to 2015 Ronaldo had a relationship with Russian model Irina Shayk. Currently, he is in a relationship with Spanish Georgina Rodríguez, a former shop assistant.

Ronaldo has four children. His first son, Cristiano Jr., was born on June 17, 2010 in the United States. On June 8, 2017 Cristiano became father to twins, daughter Eva and son Mateo, born via surrogacy. On November 12, 2017, Georgina Rodríguez gave birth to their daughter Alana Martina.

Father:

José Dinis Aveiro

(September 30, 1953 - September 6, 2005)

Mother:

Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro

(born December 31, 1954)

Son:

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Junior

(born June 17, 2010)

ex-partner:

Irina Shayk

(born January 6, 1986)

Irina Shayk is a Russian model who received international recognition when she appeared as the first Russian model on the cover of the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Daughter:

Eva Maria dos Santos

(born June 8, 2017)

Son:

Mateo Ronaldo dos Santos

(born June 8, 2017)

Daughter:

Alana Martina dos Santos Aveiro

(born November 12, 2017)

Brother:

Hugo Aveiro

(born 1975)

Sister:

Elma Aveiro

(born March 10, 1973)

Sister:

Liliana Cátia Aveiro

(born October 5, 1976)

Partner:

Georgina Rodríguez

(born January 27, 1994)

References

• Cristiano Ronaldo: The Ultimate Fan Book Filled with fun features, fantastic photos, and enlightening quotes, this is the ultimate fan book on today's top soccer legend: Cristiano Ronaldo.
  2014
• Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography Guillem Balagué, a respected football journalist and expert on the Spanish game, provides the definitive account of a twenty-first-century footballing icon.
  2015
• Cristiano Ronaldo: The Rise of a Winner Cristiano Ronaldo: The Rise of a Winner is the gripping life story of a boy who rose from the streets of Madeira to become one of the greatest soccer players ever. A heartfelt, startling tale of his journey to glory and what made him the man he is.
  2014
• Ronaldo: Rise of the Legend In this book, the readers are going to take a look at the life of Cristiano, beginning at the time he was a rising star whose career was threatened by a strange heart condition, right up until his third Ballon d'Or recognition. The readers will also follow Cristiano off of the field to see his impact on popular culture and his life beyond soccer.
  2016
• Cristiano Ronaldo: A Biography of the Portuguese Superstar In Cristiano Ronaldo: A Biography of the Portuguese Superstar the readers will learn about the life, professional career, and accomplishments of Cristiano Ronaldo.
  2017
• Cristiano Ronaldo's Instagram
• Cristiano Ronaldo's Official Website
• Cristiano Ronaldo's Twitter
• Cristiano Ronaldo's Facebook