It is possible to say that football is one of the most widely followed sport in the world. Every year, millions of people support their teams by watching football live on their screens or wherever it is. A few of the prominent teams in the world are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, etc. However, there are football players whose names stand out. One of these players is Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the history of Football with 872 goals as of December 27, 2023. The Portuguese football player, who has been performing recitals in the football world with Lionel Messi for about 17 years, currently plays for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr FC team. So, who is this football player whose name we hear a lot about, what did he experience in his past and what kind of life does he have? Here are the details about Cristiano Ronaldo’s life.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Childhood
Cristiano Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985 in Madeira, Portugal. He is the last child born to the couple Anne Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and Jose Dinis Aveiro. Father Jose gave Cristiano’s middle name Ronaldo because he was a fan of American politician Ronald Reagan. Cristiano has 1 older brother and 2 older sisters. Cristiano Ronaldo also known as CR7 grew up in a working-class family.
He had a troubled childhood because his father is an alcoholic. Due to the family’s financial instability, her mother was working two jobs. Ronaldo’s school life ended unfortunately due to the problems he experienced. Ronaldo, who was expelled from school by throwing a chair at his teacher, was a very enthusiastic child for football, no matter how problematic he seemed.
How Ronaldo Met with Football
Cristiano supported Portugal’s Benfica team when he was a child. When he was only 8 years old, he started playing for the Andorinha club, an amateur team where his father worked as a kitman. 10-year-old Ronaldo signed with the C.D. Nacional club, and he made a name for himself in a title competition, and the Sporting Lisbon team made an agreement with the Nacional club to try him out for 3 days. Later, the Sporting Lisbon team signed Cristiano Ronaldo, who showed a very successful performance in the trials.
Ronaldo signed for the Sporting Lisbon team at the age of 10. He attended the football school called Alcochete, where the young players of the team were trained. Cristiano is the first and only player to play for the U-16, U-17, U-18, B-team and A-team in one season. He scored two goals against Moreirense in his first match with Sporting Lisbon. Cristiano was diagnosed with heart palpitations when he was only 15 years old. This diagnosis was enough to force him to quit his football career. Club officials were informed, and after his mother gave consent for Ronaldo to be hospitalized, the area of his heart that has a problem was treated using a laser operation. A few days later, Ronaldo had already started training…
Cristiano Ronaldo was noticed by the technical director of the English team Liverpool when he was only 16 years old, and then he was later rejected for a possible transfer on the grounds that he was still too young. Later, in a match between Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United in 2003, he attracted the attention of legendary Coach Alex Ferguson and Manchester United players.
Cristiano’s Manchester United adventure
Cristiano Ronaldo who impressed Alex Ferguson after that opening match, was transferred to Manchester United for 12 million pounds on 12th of August. The British team sent David Beckham to the Real Madrid team and gave Cristiano the number 7 jersey, a number that could motivate him even more, even though he wanted to wear the number 28 jersey.
Cristiano played 29 Premier League matches in his first season. He scored his first goal from a free kick against Portsmouth. Cristiano scored 10 goals in all competitions that season and won his first FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award in 2005. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has improved himself over the years, won the UEFA Champions League championship in 2008 with the Manchester United team.
In 2009, they lost the same championship against Spain’s giant club Barcelona. While playing for Manchester United, Cristiano won the FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFPro World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or awards. In 2009, Ronaldo’s name started to be mentioned with Real Madrid, one of the biggest teams in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo was about to be transferred to Real Madrid for a record fee, he also had a very positive attitude towards his transfer to Madrid’s biggest club.
Unforgettable Real Madrid days
Cristiano Ronaldo was transferred to Real Madrid in 2009 for the largest transfer fee in world history (€94 million). The 24-year-old football player, who wore the number 9 jersey in his first year in the Real Madrid team, became one of the key players of the Real Madrid team by directly influencing 43 goals in his first year. The next season, when Jose Mourinho took over the team, Cristiano wore the number 7 jersey and broke record after record. The Portuguese football player, who had a direct impact on 70 goals that season, was deemed worthy of the European Golden Shoe Award.
Cristiano Ronaldo is constantly compared to the Argentina football player Lionel Messi. He won 16 trophies during his time playing for Real Madrid. Cristiano etched his name into the history of Real Madrid by scoring 450 goals and 132 assists for the team he played for 9 years. Cristiano Ronaldo’s museum contains 5 Ballon d’Or awards, the first of which he won with the Manchester United team. In the season he left for Real Madrid, he won the 5th UEFA Champions League Championship in his career.
Time to Leave
The Portuguese phenomenon, said goodbye to the Real Madrid team, where he played for 9 years, in 2018-2019. After that, he joined to the Juventus team in the Italian League Serie A league, which he described as a new field of competition. Cristiano played for Juventus between the years 2018-2021, and he won 4 trophies with the Italian team and had a performance of 101 goals and 20 assists. He contributed to his team every 95 minutes via goals & assists.
Legend is Back
C. Ronaldo returned to the team where it all began after 12 years. His coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his new teammates greeted him for joining again. However, when Erik Ten Hag headed up as the new coach, things turned out differently for Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo said, “I have no respect for Ten Hag and the club betrayed me since my return in the summer of 2021.” He scored 27 goals and contributed 5 assists to his teammates after he returned to Manchester United.
Portuguese National Team
Cristiano Ronaldo wore the Portuguese National Team’s jersey for the first time against Kazakhstan in August 2003. Ronaldo, who appeared in a national tournament for the first time with the Portuguese National Team in 2004, was greatly disappointed along with the whole of Portugal that year. The Portuguese National Team reached the finals of the tournament they hosted, and could not win the cup, with a loss 1-0 against Greece which was one of the surprise teams of that tournament.
Although they participated in this tournament with the Portuguese National Team in 2008 and 2012 and were eliminated, they won the championship in the tournament held in France in 2016 by defeating the host France in the final. Cristiano also won the UEFA Nations League championship in 2019 with the national team, increasing the number of international trophies in his career to 2. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 128 goals in 205 matches during his time playing for the national team.
Leading Move
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabian club team Al Nassr with a deal until June 2025. Fabrizio Romano said Cristiano’s total salary will be approximately €200 million per year including commercial deals, it is the biggest salary ever in football. As of today 27th of December 2023, Ronaldo scored 45 goals and 12 assists in 49 games in Saudi Arabia.
After his transfer to Saudi Arabia, the biggest football players in Europe started to sign with different Saudi Arabian teams. For example, Karim Benzema, Neymar Junior, Ngolo Kante, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, etc.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Personal Life
Cristiano Ronaldo got engaged with Georgina Rodriguez in 2018 and they live together. Cristiano Ronaldo lives in Saudi Arabia with his 4 children and his fiancee. As of April 2022, According to Cristiano Ronaldo’s net worth is $849 million. Cristiano Ronaldo has sponsorships with Nike, Clear and Herbalife. Cristiano Ronaldo is always hungry for pushing the limits, Porteguese football player has become first individual in the world who attained more than 600 million followers on one of the popular social media platforms, Meta’s Instagram. Cristiano Ronaldo recently invested in a free-to-play football game, UFL. CR7 and a group of investors backed UFL financially which aims to be an alternative to EA with $40 millions.
The generation that could not watch Pele and Maradona watched the rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi. Ronaldo, who turned 38 on February 5, 2023, has been an active football player for about 20 years. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a history that may be one of the greatest success stories in history, is one of the highest-paid football players today.
