Who is Ronaldo?

Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM Portuguese pronunciation born 5 February 1985 is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time  Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards[note  and four European Golden Shoes  the most by a European player. He has won 34 trophies in his career including seven league titles five UEFA Champions Leagues the UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Nations League. Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances 183 goals 140 and assists 42 in the Champions League, goals in the European Championship 14 international goals 118 and joint most international appearances 196. He is one of the few players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances, and has scored over 820 official senior career goals for club and country.

Ronaldo began his senior career with Sporting CP before signing with Manchester United in 2003 winning the FA Cup in his first season. He would also go on to win three consecutive Premier League titles the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup at age 23 he won his first Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo was the subject of the then most expensive association football transfer when he signed for Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth €94 million £80 million. He became a key contributor and formed an attacking trio with Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale which was integral to the team winning four Champions League wins from 2014 to 2018 including La Décima. During this period he won back to back Ballons d'Or in 2013 and 2014 and again in 2016 and 2017 and was runner-up three times behind Lionel Messi his perceived career rival. He also became the club'sall time top goalscorer and the alltime top scorer in the Champions League and finished as the competition's top scorer for six consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2018. With Real Ronaldo won two La Liga titles two Copa del Rey four Champions Leagues three UEFA Super Cup and three Club World Cups. In 2018. He signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million £88 million. the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and for a player over 30 years old. He won two Serie A titles two Supercoppa Italiana trophies and a Coppa Italia, became the inaugural Serie A Most Valuable Player and the first footballer to finish as top scorer in the English, Spanish and Italian leagues before returning to Manchester United in 2021. He left in 2022 after his contract with the club was terminated. In 2023 Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr.

Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18 and has since earned over 190 caps making him Portugal's most capped player. With more than 100 goals at international level. He is also the all time top goalscorer. Ronaldo has played in and scored at 11 major tournaments he scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 where he helped Portugal reach the final. He assumed captaincy of the national team in July 2008. In 2015 Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation. The following year he led Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016 and received the Silver Boot as the second highest goalscorer of the tournament. This achievement would see him receive his fourth Ballon d'Or. He also led them to a third place finish at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup to victory in the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019 receiving the top scorer award in the finals and later received the Golden Boot as top scorer of Euro 2020. 

One of the world's most marketable and famous athletes Ronaldo was ranked the world's highest paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 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 first footballer and the third sportsman to earn US$1 billion in his caree

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 da Aveiro, a cook and José Dinis Aveiro a municipal gardener and part-time kit man. His great-grandmother on his father's side Isabel da Piedade was from the island of São Vicente Cape Verde. He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia "Katia". 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 Christian 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 Alcochete, near Lisbon to join Sporting's youth academy. By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi professionally and agreed with his mother to cease his education to focus entirely on football. With a troubled life as a student and living in Lisbon area away from his Madeiran family. He didn't 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.