Cristiano Ronaldo

CHRISTIANO RONALDO

Early life

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and José Dinis Aveiro. His second given name, "Ronaldo," was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor. He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger for Spanish club Real Madrid and serves as captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo currently holds the distinction of being the most expensive player in football history after having transferred to Real Madrid in a deal worth £80 million (€94m, US$132m). His contract with Real Madrid is believed to have made him the highest-paid player in the world.

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player at CD Nacional and his successes with the team led to a move to Sporting Clube de Portugal two seasons afterwards. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and he signed the 18-year-old for £12.24 million in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup, and reached the UEFA Euro 2004 final with Portugal, in which tournament he scored his first international goal.

In 2008, Ronaldo won his first UEFA Champions League title, and was named player of the tournament. He was named the FIFPro World Player of the Year and the FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to becoming Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years.

Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Johan Cruyff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United.

Personal information
Full name	Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Date of birth	5 February 1985 (1985-02-05) (age 24)
Place of birth	Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Winger, Forward
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	9
Youth career
1993–1995	Andorinha
1995–1997	Nacional
1997–2001	Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years	Club	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2003	Sporting CP	25	(3)
2003–2009	Manchester United	196	(84)
2009–	Real Madrid	4	(5)
National team‡
2003–	Portugal	65	(22) International goals Cristiano Ronaldo: International goals # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 12 June 2004 Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal Greece 1–2 1–2 Euro 2004 2 30 June 2004 Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal Netherlands 2–0 2–1 Euro 2004 3 4 September 2004 Skonto stadions, Riga, Latvia Latvia 0–1 0–2 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 4 8 September 2004 Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria, Portugal Estonia 1–0 4–0 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 5 13 October 2004 Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal Russia 2–0 7–1 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 6 13 October 2004 Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal Russia 4–0 7–1 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 7 17 November 2004 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxemburg City, Luxembourg Luxembourg 0–2 0–5 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 8 4 June 2005 Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal Slovakia 2–0 2–0 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 9 8 June 2005 A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia Estonia 0–1 0–1 World Cup 2006 Qualifying 10 1 March 2006 LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany Saudi Arabia 0–1 0–3 Friendly 11 1 March 2006 LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany Saudi Arabia 0–3 0–3 Friendly 12 17 June 2006 Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany Iran 2–0 2–0 World Cup 2006 13 7 October 2006 Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal Azerbaijan 1–0 3–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying 14 7 October 2006 Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal Azerbaijan 3–0 3–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying 15 15 November 2006 Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Kazakhstan 2–0 3–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying 16 24 March 2007 Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal Belgium 2–0 4–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying 17 24 March 2007 Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal Belgium 4–0 4–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying 18 22 August 2007 Hanrapetakan Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia Armenia 1–1 1–1 Euro 2008 Qualifying 19 8 September 2007 Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal Poland 2–1 2–2 Euro 2008 Qualifying 20 17 October 2007 Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 0–2 1–2 Euro 2008 Qualifying 21 11 June 2008 Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland Czech Republic 1–2 1–3 Euro 2008 22 11 February 2009 Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal Finland 1–0 1–0 Friendly Career statistics Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other1 Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Sporting CP 2002–03 25 3 3 2 – 3 0 0 0 31 5 Total 25 3 3 2 – 3 0 0 0 31 5 Manchester United 2003–04 29 4 5 2 1 0 5 0 0 0 40 6 2004–05 33 5 7 4 2 0 8 0 0 0 50 9 2005–06 33 9 2 0 4 2 8 1 0 0 47 12 2006–07 34 17 7 3 1 0 11 3 0 0 53 23 2007–08 34 31 3 3 0 0 11 8 1 0 49 42 2008–09 33 18 2 1 4 2 12 4 2 1 53 26 Total 196 84 26 13 12 4 55 16 3 1 292 118 Real Madrid 2009–10 5 5 0 0 – 1 2 0 0 6 7 Total 5 5 0 0 – 1 2 0 0 6 7 Career total 226 92 29 15 12 4 59 18 3 1 329 130 Statistics accurate as of match played 26 September 2009[77] 1Includes other competitive competitions, including the Portuguese SuperCup, FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Supercopa de Espana. Honours Club Manchester United Premier League (3): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 FA Cup (1): 2003–04 League Cup (2): 2005–06, 2008–09 FA Community Shield (1): 2007 UEFA Champions League (1): 2007–08 FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008 Individual UEFA Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year: 2004–05, 2005–06 Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 2006–07 UEFA Team of the Year: 2003–2004, 2006–07, 2007-08 FIFPro World XI: 2006–07, 2007–08 PFA Young Player of the Year: 2006–07 PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08 PFA Fans' Player of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08 PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 FWA Footballer of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08 Barclays Player of the Season: 2006–07, 2007–08 Barclays Player of the Month: November 2006, December 2006, January 2008, March 2008 Barclays Golden Boot: 2007–08 Barclays Merit Award: 2007–08 European Golden Shoe: 2007–08 UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2007–08 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2007–08 FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2007–08 Ballon d'Or: 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year: 2008 FIFA Team of the Year: 2008