Cristiano ronaldo brazil biography of martin luther

Portuguese footballer (born 1985)

"CR7" redirects here. For other uses, see Cristiano Ronaldo (disambiguation) and CR7 (disambiguation).

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is dos Santos and the second or paternal family name is Aveiro.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos AveiroGOIHComM (Portuguese pronunciation:[kɾiʃˈtjɐnuʁɔˈnaldu]^ⓘ; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both the Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won numerous individual accolades throughout his career, such as five Ballon d'Or awards, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, four European Golden Shoes, and was named five times the world's best player by FIFA,^{[note 3]} the most by a European player. He has won 33 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, most appearances (30), assists (8), goals in the European Championship (14), international appearances (217) and international goals (135). He is one of the few players to have made over 1,200 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 900 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.^{[note 4]}

Ronaldo began his senior career with Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, winning the FA Cup in his first season. He went 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 Leagues 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's all-time top goalscorer and the all-time 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 four Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles, two Copas del Rey, two UEFA Super Cups 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. He returned to Manchester United in 2021, finishing his only full season as the club's top scorer, before his contract was terminated in 2022. In 2023, he signed for Al Nassr.

Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18 and has earned more than 200 caps, making him history's most-capped male player.^[8] With 130 international goals, he is also the all-time top male goalscorer. Ronaldo has played in eleven major tournaments and scored in ten; 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 saw him receive his fourth Ballon d'Or. He also led them 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. The same tournament, he broke the record of most international goals scored in men's football and became the player with the most international caps in men's football in 2023.

One of the world's most marketable and famous athletes, Ronaldo was ranked the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2016, 2017, 2023, and 2024 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. Ronaldo is the most popular sportsperson on social media: he counts over 1 billion total followers across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, making him the first person to achieve that feat. In 2020, Ronaldo was named to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team and he is the first footballer and the third sportsman to earn US$1 billion in his career.

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.^[9][10] He is the fourth and youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros Aveiro, who worked as a cook in the hospitality industry and a cleaning woman,^[11][12] and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener at the Junta de Freguesia of Santo António and part-time kit man for football club Andorinha.^[13][14][15] His great-grandmother on his father's side, Isabel da Piedade, an African woman, was born in the island of São Vicente, in what was then Portuguese Cape Verde, and moved to Madeira Island at 16.^[16][17] He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia "Kátia".^[2] He was named after actor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, whom his father was a fan of.^[18] 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.^[19][20] Ronaldo grew up in an impoverished Catholic home, sharing a room with all his siblings.^[21]

As a child, Ronaldo played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995,^[22] 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.^[23] He subsequently moved from Madeira to Lisbon to join Sporting CP's youth system.^[23] By age 14, while struggling with his school duties and responsibilities in Escola EB2 de Telheiras, his school in the Telheiras area of Lisbon, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally and agreed with his mother and his tutor at Sporting CP, Leonel Pontes,^[24] to cease his education to focus entirely on football.^[25][26] With a troubled life as a student,^[27] and although living in Lisbon area away from his Madeiran family,^[28][29] he did not complete schooling beyond the 6th grade.^[30][31] While popular with other students at school, he had been expelled after throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him.^[25] One year later, he was diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that could have forced him to give up playing football.^[32] Ronaldo underwent heart surgery where a laser was used to cauterise multiple cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart rate.^[33] He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed training a few days later.^[34] In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, stated in an interview for Sporting CP's official television channel (Sporting TV) that her son would be a bricklayer if he hadn't become a professional football player.^[35]

Growing up, Ronaldo idolised the Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho and Ronaldo Nazário, and has described them as leaving "a beautiful history in football".^[36]

Club career

Main article: Career of Cristiano Ronaldo § Club career

Sporting CP

After impressing in Sporting's youth teams, he was promoted to the main team by first-team manager László Bölöni. At age 17, on 14 August 2002, he played his first official match for the first team, in a UEFA Champions League qualifying round at José Alvalade Stadium against Inter Milan,^[37] and his Primeira Liga debut, took place a month later against Braga, and on 7 October, he scored two goals against Moreirense in their 3–0 win.^[38] Over the course of the 2002–03 season, his representatives suggested the player to Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and Barcelona president Joan Laporta.^[39] Manager Arsène Wenger, who was interested in signing Ronaldo, met with him at Arsenal's stadium in November to discuss a possible transfer.^[40]

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was determined to acquire Ronaldo on a permanent move urgently, after Sporting defeated United 3–1 at the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade on 6 August 2003. Initially, United had planned to sign Ronaldo and loan him back to Sporting for a year.^[41] Having been impressed by him, the United players urged Ferguson to sign him. After the game, Ferguson said Ronaldo was "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen.^[41][42]

Manchester United

2003–2007: Development and breakthrough

On 12 August 2003, less than a week after the friendly that impressed Ferguson, Manchester United signed Ronaldo for £12 million,^[44] an England record for a teenager.^[45] This also made him the first Portuguese player to sign for the club.^[46]

Although he requested the number 28, his number at Sporting, he received the squad number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by such United players as George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.^[47] Wearing the number 7 became an extra source of motivation for Ronaldo.^[48] A key element in his development during his time in England proved to be Ferguson, of whom he later said: "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important and influential factors in my career."^[49]

Ronaldo made his debut as a substitute in a 4–0 home win over Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League on 16 August 2003.^[50] His performance earned praise from Best, who hailed it as "undoubtedly the most exciting debut" he had ever seen.^[43] Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free-kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November.^[51] On 15 May 2004, in a victory against Aston Villa, Ronaldo scored the opening goal and later received the first red card of his career.^[52][53] Ronaldo ended his first season in English football with a trophy, scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0 win over Millwall in the 2004 FA Cup Final.^[54] BBC pundit Alan Hansen described him as the star of the final.^[55] The British press had been critical of Ronaldo during the season for his "elaborate" step-overs in trying to beat opponents,^[56] but teammate Gary Neville said he was "not a show pony, but the real thing", and predicted he would become a world-class player.^[57]

At the start of 2005, Ronaldo played two of his best matches of the 2004–05 season, producing a goal and an assist against Aston Villa and scoring twice against rivals Arsenal.^[58][59] Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football, the Football League Cup, after scoring the third goal in United's 4–0 final win over Wigan Athletic.^[60]

During his third season in England, Ronaldo was involved in several incidents. Ronaldo clashed with a teammate, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who took offence at the winger's showboating style of play.^[61] Following the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in which he was involved in an incident where club teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off,^[62] Ronaldo publicly asked for a transfer, lamenting the lack of support he felt he had received from the club over the incident.^[63] United denied the possibility of him leaving the club.^[64] Although his World Cup altercation with Rooney resulted in Ronaldo being booed throughout the 2006–07 season,^[65] it proved to be his break-out year, as he broke the 20-goal barrier for the first time and won his first Premier League title.^[66]

2007–2009: Collective and individual success and Ballon d'Or

In the 2006–07 season, he amassed a host of personal awards for the season, winning the Professional Footballers' Association's Player's Player, Fans' Player, Young Player of the Year awards, and the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award,^[67][68] becoming the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA honours.^[69] Ronaldo was named runner-up to Kaká for the 2007 Ballon d'Or,^[70] and came third, behind Kaká and Lionel Messi, in the running for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year award.^[71]

Ronaldo scored his first hat-trick for United in a 6–0 win against Newcastle United on 12 January 2008.^[72] His 31 league goals earned him the Premier League Golden Boot,^[73] as well as the European Golden Shoe, which made him the first winger to win the latter award.^[74] He additionally received the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards for the second consecutive season.^[75][76] United reached the final against Chelsea in Moscow on 21 May, where, despite his opening goal being negated by an equaliser and his penalty kick being saved in the shoot-out,^[77] United emerged victorious, winning 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw at the end of 120 minutes.^[78][79] As the Champions League top scorer, Ronaldo was named the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.^[80] With his 2008 Ballon d'Or and 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldo became United's first Ballon d'Or winner since Best in 1968,^[81] and the first Premier League player to be named the FIFA World Player of the Year.^[82]

Shortly after, Ronaldo was linked to a move to Real Madrid, United filed a tampering complaint with governing body FIFA over Madrid's alleged pursuit of their player, but they declined to take action.^[83] and he remained at United for another year.^[84] His match-winning goal in the second leg against Porto, a 40-yard strike, earned him the inaugural FIFA Puskás Award, presented by FIFA in recognition of the best goal of the year;^[85] he later called it the best goal he had ever scored.^[86] United advanced to the final in Rome,^[87] where he made little impact in United's 2–0 defeat to Barcelona.^[88]

Real Madrid

2009–2015: World record transfer and consecutive Ballon d'Or wins

In 2009, Ronaldo transferred to Real Madrid for a then world record £80 million.^[89] At least 80,000 fans attended his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu, surpassing the 25-year record of 75,000 fans who had welcomed Diego Maradona at Napoli.^[90]

Ronaldo made his La Liga debut against Deportivo La Coruña on 29 August, scoring a penalty in a 3–2 home win.^[91] He scored in each of his first four league games, the first Madrid player to do so.^[92] His first Champions League goals for the club followed with two free kicks in the first group match against Zürich.^[93] His strong start to the season was interrupted when he suffered an ankle injury in October while on international duty, which kept him sidelined for seven weeks.^[94][95] Despite scoring 33 goals in all competitions and contributing to Real Madrid's 96 points in La Liga, his first season with Madrid ended trophyless.^[96]

Following Raúl's departure, Ronaldo was given No. 7 for the 2010–11 season and scored 53 goals, helping Madrid win the Copa del Rey, scoring the winning goal against rivals Barcelona in the El Clásico, his first trophy with Madrid.^[97] He also became the first player in La Liga to score 40 goals.^[98] In addition to the Pichichi Trophy, Ronaldo won the European Golden Shoe for a second time, becoming the first player to win the award in different leagues.^[99]

The following season saw Ronaldo score 60 goals across all competitions,^[100] leading Madrid to their first league title in four years with a record 100 points and his runner-up finish to Lionel Messi in the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or.^[101] He scored his 100th league goal for Madrid in a 5–1 win over Real Sociedad on 24 March 2012, breaking the previous club record held by Ferenc Puskás.^[102] In the 2012–13 season, he scored his first hat-trick in the Champions League in a 4–1 win over Ajax.^[103] Four days later, he became the first player to score in six successive Clásicos when he hit a brace in a 2–2 draw at Camp Nou.^[104] His performances again saw Ronaldo voted second in the running for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or, behind four-time winner Messi.^[105]

Following the 2012–13 winter break, Ronaldo captained Madrid for the first time in an official match, scoring twice to lift 10-man Madrid to a 4–3 win over Sociedad on 6 January.^[106] He subsequently became the first non-Spanish player in 60 years to captain Madrid in El Clasico on 30 January, a match which also marked his 500th club appearance.^[107]

In 2013–14 season, Ronaldo was joined at the club by winger Gareth Bale and together with striker Karim Benzema, they formed an attacking trio popularly dubbed "BBC", an acronym of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, and a play on the name of the British public service broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).^[108] He continued prolific scoring, with 69 goals in 2013, winning the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or,^[109] and the FIFA World Player of the Year award, for the first time in his career.^[110]

Concurrently with his individual achievements, Ronaldo enjoyed his greatest team success in Spain to date, as he helped Madrid win La Décima, their tenth European Cup, scoring a penalty in the 120th minute of the 4–1 final win over city rivalsAtlético Madrid, becoming the first player to score in two European Cup finals for two different winning teams.^[111] As the competition's top goalscorer for the third time, with a record 17 goals,^[112] he was named the UEFA Best Player in Europe.^[113] Ronaldo scored 31 goals in 30 league games, which earned him the Pichichi and the European Golden Shoe, along with Liverpool's Luis Suárez^[114] On 4 May, Ronaldo scored a back-heeled volley in the closing moments of the match against Valencia, voted goal of the season by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP),^[115] giving him the Best Player in La Liga award.^[116]

During the 2014–15 season, Ronaldo set a new personal best of 61 goals, and after winning the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup,^[117] Ronaldo received the 2014 Ballon d'Or,^[118] joining Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten as a three-time recipient.^[119] Madrid finished in second place in La Liga and exited at the semi-final stage in the Champions League.^[120] With 10 goals, he finished as top scorer for a third consecutive season, alongside Messi and Neymar.^[121] On 5 April, he scored five goals in a game for the first time in his career, including an eight-minute hat-trick, in a 9–1 rout of Granada.^[122] His 300th goal for his club followed three days later in a 2–0 win against Rayo Vallecano.^[123] He finished the season with 48 goals, winning a second consecutive Pichichi and the European Golden Shoe for a record fourth time.^[124]

2015–2018: All-time Madrid top scorer and Fifth Ballon d'Or

Cristiano Ronaldo became Real Madrid's all-time top scorer on 12 September 2015 against Espanyol, netting 230 goals in 203 matches, surpassing the previous record holder, Raúl.^[125] Ronaldo also became the all-time top scorer in the Champions League with a hat-trick in the first group match against Shakhtar Donetsk, having finished the previous season level with Messi on 77 goals.^[126] Two goals against Malmö FF in a 2–0 away win on 30 September saw him reach the milestone of 500 career goals for club and country.^[127] He won the 2016 Ballon d'Or, his fourth, and the inaugural 2016 The Best FIFA Men's Player, a revival of the former FIFA World Player of the Year, largely owing to his success with Portugal in winning Euro 2016.^[128]