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Birth
Ronaldo was born on 5 February 1985 in Santo António, a neighbourhood of Funchal, Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener. He was named after Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favorite actor. -
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Cristiano Ronaldo's Life
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First Amateur Team
At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur team Andorinha, where his father worked as the kit man. His father was the main one that influenced Ronaldo to start playing the sport of soccer. Even at such young age, he began to show his massive talents on soccer and several scouters from the other European teams get to notice him. -
First Local Club
In 1995, Ronaldo signed with local club Nacional. The coach in the Nacional recognized Ronaldo's great talent and decides to teach him in order to let him become a great player in the future. Here, he learns the style of training from the coach, which is stopless and very hardcore. Experiencing the hard training at the young age let him to easily have the habit of continuously training himself for the improved skills. -
First Professional Team
After playing well for Nacional, he went on a three-days trial with Sporting CP, who subsequently signed him. The scouter of the Sporting recommended the youth coach to sign Ronaldo, who seemed to have best talent on soccer that he have never seen before in his life. He played for the youth teams from 1997 - 2001. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's U-16, U-17, U-18, B-team, and first team, all within one season. -
Professional Debut!
After playing well for the youth teams, Cristiano made the step up to the senior team. This was when he was only 16 years old, which is about the age of high scholars. He wrote in his autobiography that his first debut was very nervous for him as well as many other players and it was his first time to experience the pressure in the stadium as the professional player. Between 2001 - 2003 he makes 25 appearances and scores 3 goals. -
Transfer to Manchester United
In the May of 2003, Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United decide to have a friendly match against each other. Ronaldo was selected to be on the starting line up against the United. After Sporting beat United 3-1 in a pre-season friendly, United's players including Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand urged Sir Alex Ferguson to sign Ronaldo. Not only the players but the Ferguson was also impressed at Ronaldo's great tanet on dribbling and powerful shots. Eventually, he joined United for £12.24 million. -
2006 Germany World Cup
During the quarter finals against England, Ronaldo's United teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off. The English media speculated that Ronaldo had influenced referee Horacio Elizondo's decision by aggressively complaining, after which he was seen in replays winking at the Portuguese bench following Rooney's dismissal. The angry reaction from the English press caused Ronaldo to consider leaving United. Later, he explained the exact situation and his feelings about the incident in his autobiography. -
European Champion
Ronaldo scores a header and is voted man of the match as United beat Chelsea in Moscow to win the Champions League. This was considered to be his best season at United. He scored 42 goals and won the Golden Boot award for the top goalscorer in Europe. He also won the Ballon d'Or award, becoming the first United player since George Best in 1968 to do so. As a result, Ronaldo started to be recognized as one of the best players in the world. -
Transfer to Real Madrid
At this time, Ronaldo thought that he has done everything in the United and it's time for him to move to another team for new challenges. Coincidentally, Manchester United evnetually accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo. He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July. He was welcomed by 80,000 fans at his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which is the home stadium of Real Madrid. -
2010 South Africa World Cup
At this time, Ronaldo was in a great pace in Real Madrid. Hence, it was speculated that Ronaldo will dominate the stage of World cup. However, Ronaldo failed to show the great performance as an individual and his natioal team of Portugal also fails to proceed on from the second round. Ronaldo had a disappointing World Cup, losing 1-0 to Spain, the team that eventually won the world cup, in the second round. -
La Liga Golden Shoe
Although Ronaldo didn't do well in the world cup of 2010, he continued his stunning plays in the field as part of Real Madrid. As a result, Ronaldo receives the La Liga Golden Shoe award, which is given to the player who scored the most during the season in La Liga. He later donates this Golden Boots in aid of children in Gaza, Palestine. -
Ronaldo donates his Golden Boot
Ronaldo donated his Golden Boot which he earned in 2011 to the auction. This was sold in €1.5 million, and the Real Madrid Foundation used this money to build schools in Gaza, Palestaine. -
Donation to ICRC
Real Madrid star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has donated 100,000 euro to the physical rehabilitation programme of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan.Not only supporting their physical rehabilitation, but the ICRC also helps disabled people by financing education, vocational training, employment and some small-business activities. For the programme in the Afghanistan, it started since 2005 and still continues to help the disabled and the hungry children in the countr
