Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Cristiano Ronaldo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Brazilian footballer Ronaldo.
"CR7" and "Cristiano" redirect here. For other uses, see CR7 (disambiguation) and Cristiano (disambiguation).
This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is dos Santos and the second or paternal family name is Aveiro.
 Ronaldo playing for Portugal in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro | ||
| Date of birth | 5 February 1985 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Funchal, Madeira, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team
| Real Madrid | ||
| Number | 7 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1993–1995 | Andorinha | ||
| 1995–1997 | Nacional | ||
| 1997–2002 | Sporting CP | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2003 | Sporting CP | 25 | (3) |
| 2003–2009 | Manchester United | 196 | (84) |
| 2009– | Real Madrid | 165 | (177) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001 | Portugal U15 | 9 | (7) |
| 2001–2002 | Portugal U17 | 7 | (5) |
| 2003 | Portugal U20 | 5 | (1) |
| 2002–2003 | Portugal U21 | 10 | (3) |
| 2004 | Portugal U23 | 3 | (2) |
| 2003– | Portugal | 114 | (50) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:01, 7 May 2014 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:45, 26 June 2014 (UTC) | |||
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾɨʃtiˈɐnu ʁuˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985), known asCristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. He became the world's most expensive player when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$132 million). Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion. He is regarded by some in the sport to be currently the best player in the world,[3][4][5][6][7] and as one of the greatest of all time.[8][9][10]
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 Unitedmanager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.2 million (€15 million) in 2003. In 2004, Ronaldo won his first club honour, theFA Cup.
In 2007, Ronaldo was the first player in England to win all four main PFA and FWA awards. In 2008 and 2013, he won theFIFA/Ballon d'Or award for the best footballer in the world, the first Portuguese player to win the award twice.[11][12] He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in 2008, 2011 and 2014. In 2008, he won 3 of the 4 main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or.[13][14][15] In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He was the inaugural winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for Goal of the Year in 2009. In a 2014 UEFA poll he was named the greatest goalscorer to play in the UEFA Champions League.[16] With 67 goals he is tied second in the competition's top scorers of all time, only trailing Raúl by four goals.
Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, fastest Real Madrid player to reach 100 league goals, and the first player to score against every team in a single season in La Liga.[17] He holds the record for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid. In January 2014, Ronaldo scored his 400th career goal.[18] After spending his first year at Madrid wearing the number 9 shirt, he began wearing the number 7 again following the departure of long-serving striker Raúl. Ronaldo had previously worn the number 7 shirt at Manchester United.
Ronaldo is a Portuguese international and made his debut in August 2003. He has been capped over 100 times and with 50 goals he is Portugal's top goalscorer of all time. With Portugal he has participated in 6 major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in the opening game of Euro 2004 against Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach the final. He took over captaincy in July 2008 and captained them to the Euro 2012 semi-finals finishing the competition as joint-top scorer.
