Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (port. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a striker for the Portuguese national team and the English club Manchester United. One of the best footballers in history.
Place of Birth. Born February 5, 1985 in the municipality of Funchal, the capital of the autonomous region of Madeira. Cristiano is the youngest son of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and Jose Dinis Aveiro.
Professional career. At the age of eight, he played for the amateur team "Andorinha" ("Andorinha"), where his father was responsible for the material base for football players.
In 1995, Ronaldo signed a contract with Nacional. According to the results of the season, Ronaldo received an invitation to watch in the Lisbon Sporting, after which the club from the Portuguese capital signed a contract with him.
Ronaldo became the only Sporting player to play for the club's under-16s, under-seventeens, under-eighteens, Sporting's doubles and the main team in one season.
At the age of sixteen, the coach of the English club Liverpool, Gerard Houllier, became interested in the football player, but the club refused to take Ronaldo, deciding that the Portuguese should first develop their football skills. In the summer, "Sporting" met with "Manchester United". Already after the first half, the players, surprised by the game of Ronaldo, persuaded Ferguson to redeem Ronaldo. In that match, 2Sporting defeated Manchester United.
Signing a contract worth 11.24 million pounds, Ronaldo became the first Portuguese in the history of Manchester United. Ronaldo made his Manchester United debut as a substitute against Bolton Wanderers. He justified Ferguson's trust in the first season, as a result of which he received the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year Award for the best player of the 2003/2004 season. The award, which is based on a vote by Manchester United fans, was the first personal award in a footballer's professional career.
At Euro 2004, Ronaldo played for his national team, scoring two goals in the tournament. He became the youngest player to play in the final of the European Championship, because the striker entered the final match against the Greeks at the age of 19 years and 150 days.
On April 13, 2007, after the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo extended the contract with the Ferguson club, despite the fact that the Spanish Real Madrid offered to pay 8 million euros for the Portuguese. Ronaldo's new five-year deal also included an increase in Ronaldo's own salary to £120,000 a week, making him Manchester United's highest-paid player.
Following the results of the 2006/2007 season, Ronaldo was recognized as the best player in the professional football association of England, becoming the first Portuguese ever to receive this prestigious award. In the same season, he was recognized as the best young player of the professional football association, received the award of the best football player of the year according to the football journalists of England, and the fans named him the best player of the season for the second time in his career, again giving him the Sir Matt Busby Prize.
In the 2007-2008 season, Ronaldo became the best player in the professional football association of England for the second time in a row. The Portuguese managed to break the record of George Best - the only midfielder "Manchester United", who scored 32 goals in matches for the club. His 31st Premier League goal made the Portuguese top scorer in the 2007/2008 Premier League season. He also became the first midfielder to win the Golden Boot. Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or at the end of the season. In the 2007/2008 season, Ronaldo was named the best player of Manchester United by the fans for the third time, receiving the Sir Matt Busby Prize.
May 21, 2008 Ronaldo as part of Manchester United won the UEFA Champions League, defeating the English football club Chelsea in the final match.
In June 2008, it became known that Ronaldo was allegedly interested in moving to Real Madrid if the club offered him a decent salary. Manchester United filed an official complaint with FIFA about the Madrid club's attempts to assign the Portuguese, but officials refused to sanction Real Madrid.
August 28, 2008 Ronaldo was named the best striker and the best player in 2008 according to UEFA.
January 12, 2009 Ronaldo was named the best player of 2008 according to FIFA.
Real Madrid and Manchester United on June 26, 2009 signed an agreement to transfer the midfielder to the Spanish club. As part of the contract, Ronaldo will spend six seasons at Real Madrid, and his salary will be 13 million euros a year, this is a record amount for football - before that, the highest paid player in the world was Inter forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who received 12 million euros.
In July 2018, he moved from Real Madrid to Italian Juventus for 112 million euros, following the results of his debut season, becoming champion of Italy, the winner Italian Super Cup, as well as award-winning Italy Footballer of the Year and the best player of the season in Serie A.
On August 27, 2024, the English football club Manchester United confirmed that they had reached an agreement with Juventus on the transfer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Play style. Cristiano Ronaldo is considered by many experts to be the most versatile and perfect football player in the world. The Portuguese knows almost everything on the field: he has an equally accurate and strong shot from both legs, Ronaldo scores a lot with his head. Cristiano has a unique free kick: after the kick, the ball flies along an intricate trajectory at high speed, first up, and in front of the goal it falls sharply down and hits the opponents' goal. Ronaldo has excellent dribbling technique, which allows him to often beat several opponents. With everything else, Cristiano is very fast and hardy.
Cristiano Ronaldo can act both as an attacking midfielder and as a central striker. In the 2014/15 season, experts noted that the Portuguese scored almost 2/3 of his goals from the position of a central striker, while earlier this figure was about 50%, and in the 2011/12 season - only 33%.
Team Achievements. "Manchester United": English Premier League champion (3): 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09; FA Cup winner: 2003/04; Football League Cup winner (2): 2005/06, 2008/09; UEFA Champions League winner: 2007/08; FA Super Cup winner: 2007; Club World Cup Winner: 2008.
"Real Madrid": Spanish champion (2): 2011/12, 2016/17; winner of the Spanish Cup (2): 2010/11, 2013/14; UEFA Champions League winner (4): 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18; UEFA Super Cup winner (2): 2014, 2017; winner of the Spanish Super Cup (2): 2012, 2017; Club World Cup winner (3): 2014, 2016, 2017.
Juventus: Italian Champion (2): 2018/19, 2019/20; Italian Super Cup winner (2): 2018, 2024.
Portugal national team: European champion: 2016; silver medalist of the European Championship: 2004; bronze medalist of the European Championship: 2012; bronze medalist of the Confederations Cup: 2017; UEFA Nations League 2018/19 winner.
Personal achievements. The best football player in the world according to FIFA: 2008, 2016, 2017.
Five-time winner of the Golden Ball in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Winner of the Golden Boot: 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015.
Four times became the second player in the world in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015. The third player in the world in 2007.
Four-time winner of the UEFA Golden Boot 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Recognized as the best young player of the 2004 European Championship.
Charity. Ronaldo is one of the biggest benefactors among athletes. In 2007, Cristiano's mother was operated on for breast cancer at the Funchal Central Hospital. Since then, Ronaldo has made numerous donations to the Portuguese Cancer League. He also gave the cash prize for winning Euro 2016 in the amount of 275 thousand euros to children with cancer.. In total, Ronaldo transferred more than 10 million euros to charity.
Problems with law. While playing for Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo was accused by the Spanish tax authorities of tax evasion. According to investigators, the Portuguese committed four tax crimes, causing total damage to the state in the amount of 14.7 million euros. On January 22, 2019, Ronaldo pleaded guilty in court and agreed to a 23-month prison term, while avoiding de facto imprisonment under Spanish law. In addition, the court ordered Ronaldo to pay the Spanish treasury 18.8 million euros.
Personal life. Since 2010, he has been in a relationship with Russian supermodel Irina Shayk. In January 2015, the couple broke up.
June 17, 2010 Ronaldo became a father: his son Cristiano Jr. was born from a surrogate mother.
In March 2017, it became known that Ronaldo was soon expecting two twins, who would also be born from a surrogate mother. On June 8, 2017, he had twins, the children were named Eva and Matthew.
In November 2017, his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez gave birth to Ronaldo's daughter.
08/28/2021