Player's Biography

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro,^[2] OIH, (born 5 February 1985),^[3]commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as aforward for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million (€93.9 million/$131.6 million). In addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per year, makes him one of the highest-paid footballers in the world,^[4] and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.^[5]

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15 million) in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup. He also played at Euro 2004 with Portugal and scored his first international goal in the opening game of the tournament against Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach the final.

Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or.^[6] He placed second in the Ballon d'Or in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in both 2008 and 2011. In 2008, he won three of the four main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, Onze d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year.^[7][8][9] In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo was the inaugural winner of the FIFA Puskás Award in 2009.

Ronaldo holds numerous former and current scoring records, including records for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid, most goals scored per minute in La Liga, first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, 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.^[10]

Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the Academia Sporting, the club's football academy, in Alcochete. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season.^[14]He scored two goals in his league debut on 7 October 2002, which Sporting CP won 3–0 against Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the 2002 European Under-17 Championship.^[15]

Ronaldo became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million^[20] (£12.24 million) after the 2002–03 season.^[21] He requested the number 28 (his number at Sporting), as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by players such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham. "After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."^[22]

In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so afterDennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Robbie Fowler in 1996.^[27][28] He scored his 50th Manchester United goal against city rivals Manchester City on 5 May 2007 as United claimed their first Premier League title in four years, and he was voted into his second consecutive FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award at the end of the year.

     On 26 June 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million (€93.9 million) becoming the most expensive footballer in history,^[67] after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract.^[68] Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year^[4] and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause.^[69] He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July,^[70] where he was handed the number 9 jersey.^[71] The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano.^[72] Ronaldo was welcomed by 85,000 fans at his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

On 23 August 2012, Ronaldo scored his first goal of the season against Barcelona in the first leg of the 2012 Supercopa de España atCamp Nou, which made him the first Madrid player in the history of El Clásico to score for the fourth game in a row at the Camp Nou.^[108] Real Madrid won the return leg at Santiago Bernabéu, with Ronaldo scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win. With the goal in the second leg, Ronaldo equalled the Real Madrid record of Iván Zamorano of scoring in five consecutive El Clásico matches.^[109] Ronaldo was second (tied with Lionel Messi) in the 2011–12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, only behind Andrés Iniesta.^[110]On 2 September 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first league goal of the 2012-13 season against Granada, which was also his 200th career goal in league matches played in England, Spain and Portugal. He added another goal which was his 150th goal for Real Madrid in all competitions in 149 matches played. This goal made him the 10th highest scorer for Real Madrid in all competitions. Ronaldo was substituted at the 63rd minute by team mate Gonzalo Higuain, who later added another goal, due to a minor thigh injury. The match ended 3-0 to Real Madrid.^[111]

Ronaldo scored seven goals in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, behind Germany's Miroslav Klose and Netherland's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Portugal were drawn in Group B with Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, which was widely referred to as the "group of death" of the tournament.^[145] In an interview with Kicker Magazine, Ronaldo stated that "I will only be fully content with my career when I have lifted a trophy with Portugal."^{[146][147][148][149]}Ronaldo had several chances for Portugal in the semifinals against Spain, but he sent three shots over the bar.^[157] Ronaldo had his best chance in the 90th minute but shot the ball high and wide.^[158] The match ended with penalties, but Ronaldo did not take a penalty in the shootout. He had been slated to take the fifth one, but it never got that far.^[159] The Portugal coach, Paulo Bento, knocked back criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo not being employed earlier in the shootout. "Well we had this plan and if it would have been 4–4 and he would have taken the last penalty we would talk in a different way," Bento said.^[160][161]

Before and throughout the tournament, Ronaldo was particularly hailed by Diego Maradona who even declared Ronaldo as "the best player on the planet" and that "[Ronaldo] has shown his countrymen that he does deserve a monument in Lisbon."^[144][162] Ronaldo was included in the UEFA Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament, the second time after 2004, and finished the competition as the joint best scorer with three goals, along with five other players, although Fernando Torres claimed the Golden Boot.