Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is the Portuguese football skipper born 5 February 1985 in Funchal Madeira, Portugal. He started his playing career at the age of 8 at an armature club Andorinha and later moved to Nacional a local club in 1995 where he won a title. This prompted him to undergo a three year trial with Sporting CP where he was successful and was signed for undisclosed fee.

After signing for Sporting CP, he played for the under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season in a single season. He made his senior debut on October 2002 where he scored two goals. However, he only made 25 appearances for the club scoring three goals.

It was during inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade friendly match between Manchester United and Sporting CP that Ronaldo caught the eye of then Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson who would later sign him for £12.24 million before the start of the 2003-04 season. He made his debut for the new club as a substitute in the 60th minute in their 4-0 win against Bolton Wanderers at home. From here he fought his way to the starting lineup and ended up making a total of 196 appearances for the club scoring 84 goals before the departed in 2009 to Real Madrid. In his time in England, Ronaldo won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two Football League Cups, one FA Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Ronaldo transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid for a fee of £80 million (€94 million) becoming the most expensive footballer in history on a six year contract worth €11 million per year. He made his debut against Shamrock Rovers in a 1-0 win on 21 July. It took him a week to sound his arrival in Madrid when he scored his first goal for the club in a 4-2 win against LDU Quito. From here henceforth, he has become one of the reliable icons for Real Madrid having made 198 appearances and scored 307 goals with 29 hat tricks for the club. To date he has guided the team to one La Liga title, two Copa Del Rey, one Supercopa de Espana, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup.

In the international forum, Ronaldo was enrolled in the Portugal U15 in 2001 and made 34 appearances scoring 18 goals in all youth games including in the under-17, under-20, under-21, and the [Olympic] under-23 national sides. He earned his first international call up for the national team on 20 August 2003 and made his debut on the same day against Kazakhstan in their 1-0 victory. He took the captain armband for the national team in July 2008. He has represented his nation in major international tournaments from Euro 2004, 2004 Summer Olympics, 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008, 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and 2014 World Cup. He has made a total of 119 appearances in Portugal shirt scoring 52 goals.

The talented winger has scooped the following individual honors; FIFA Ballon d’Or: 2013, 2014, Ballon d’Or: 2008, FIFA World Player of the Year: 2008, UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2004, 2012, Bravo Award: 2004, UEFA Team of the Year: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, PFA Young Player of the Year: 2006–07, PFA Players’ Player of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08, FWA Footballer of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08, Barclays Player of the Year2006–07, 2007–08, Premier League Player of the Month: November 2006, December 2006, January 2008, March 2008, ESM Team of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, Premier League Golden Boot: 2007–08, European Golden Shoe: 2007–08, 2010–11, 2013–14, FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, UEFA Champions League top scorer: 2007–08, 2012–13, 2013–14, UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2007–08, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2007–08, Cup Silver: 2008, 2014, FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2008, Onze d’Or: 2008, 2013, World Soccer Player of the Year: 2008, 2013, 2014, FIFA Puskás Award: 2009, La Liga top scorer: 2010–11, 2013–14, Copa del Rey top Goalscorer: 2010–11, Trofeo Alfredo Di Stéfano: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, UEFA Euro Top scorer: 2012, La Liga Player of the Month: November 2013, LFP Most Valuable Player: 2012–13, IFFHS World’s Best Top Goal Scorer: 2013, ESPY Awards Best International Athlete: 2014, UEFA Best Player in Europe Award: 2013–14, UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2013–14, LFP Best Player: 2013–14, LFP Best Forward: 2013–14, LFP Best Goal: 2013–14, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2014