Cristiano Ronaldo

Club Career

Born on February 5, 1985, Ronaldo started his youth career at the age of seven with Andorinha. He moved to Nacional at the age of 10 before making the move to Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy in 1997.

After making just a couple of appearances for Sporting’s reserve team in the 2002-03 season, Ronaldo was handed his first team debut on October 7, 2002. He scored two goals in a 3-0 win over Moreirense in the Portuguese Primeira Liga fixture.

Over the course of his debut season in the top-flight, a number of top clubs were alerted about his abilities. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had invited the player to the team’s training ground and discussed a possible deal for the player. However, fate had other plans for Ronaldo. In August 2003, Sporting hosted Manchester United in what was the inaugural match at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. It was a pre-season fixture for both teams and United were well beaten 3-1. Ronaldo had outshined everyone on the pitch that night and the Manchester United players who were on the field on the occasion urged their manager to sign him up.

Sir Alex Ferguson swooped for the player soon after and Ronaldo became the first Portuguese player to feature for Manchester United. The club paid 12.24 million GBP for the player at the time. Ronaldo was handed the number seven shirt at United which was vacated by the sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid that summer.

Ronaldo’s English Premier League debut came on August 16, 2003 in a 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. He came on as a substitute for Nicky Butt on the hour mark. George Best, who had previously worn the number seven shirt at United, hailed Ronaldo’s debut as the most exciting that he had ever seen.

His first goal for United came through a free-kick in a 3-0 win over Portsmouth. His first trophy arrived at the end of his debut season when United beat Millwall 3-0 in the FA Cup final. Ronaldo had opened the scoring on the occasion.

Ronaldo would go on to win nine major honours with Manchester United including three Premier League titles on the bounce from 2006-07 to 2008-09 and the UEFA Champions League in 2007-08. The player would also go on to win the first of his four Ballon d’Or awards in 2008. During the 2007-08 season, Ronaldo scored 42 goals in all competitions while forging a superb partnership with Wayne Rooney at United.

In the summer of 2009, Ronaldo moved to Spanish giants Real Madrid for a then world-record transfer fee of 80 million GBP. Ronaldo wore the number 9 shirt for his first season with Real. Although he banged in 33 goals in his first season with the club, Real ended the season without a trophy.

Following Raul’s departure in the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed his coveted number seven shirt at Real Madrid. The player has gone on to break’s Raul’s record for the most number of goals scored for Real Madrid and win three more Ballon d’Or gongs so far.

Ronaldo won two La Liga trophies and four Champions League trophies for Real in addition to nine more honours with Real Madrid while scoring 450 goals from 438 appearances for Los Blancos. He happens to be the only player in the history of the game to have scored 50 or more goals in six consecutive seasons in top-flight football.

Ronaldo left Real in 2018 for Italian giants Juventus on a four-year deal. He helped the Bianconeri to two Serie A titles in back-to-back seasons and was voted the league’s MVP in his debut season after 21 goals and eight assists. He scored 31 league goals in his second season with Juve. His third season wasn’t as successful, with Juve missing out on the title to Inter, but Ronaldo netted 29 league goals to win the top scorer award.

In 2021-22, Ronaldo started the new season on the bench at Juve and eventually left the club, joining Manchester United having been heavily linked with their rivals Manchester City. Ronaldo joined United on a two-year deal worth 12.85 million pounds.

Ronaldo’s arrival at Old Trafford brought renewed optimism to the club which had been trophyless for years. Ronaldo scored plenty of goals, but it was a disappointing season for United on the field, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked and reports of a fallout between Ronaldo and interim manager Ralf Rangnick.

In 2022-23, new United manager Erik ten Hag utilised Ronaldo off the bench regularly, rather than start him, much to his displeasure. In November 2022, Ronaldo held an explosive interview, claiming he was betrayed by the club, leading to a fallout and his contract being terminated by mutual consent. He would join Saudi club Al Nassr in a big-money move until 2025.

International Career

The player is also Portugal’s most capped footballer with 198 appearances for his country. He is also their top-scorer with 122 goals. Portugal’s only major trophy arrived in 2016 when they won the European Championships in France. Ronaldo played an important role for Portugal during the tournament.

Ronaldo holds the world record for most international goals, with 127 goals, as of October 2023 ahead of Ali Daei and rival Lionel Messi. He has played for Portugal more than 200 times.

Individual Achievements

• Ballon d’Or (5): 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
• FIFA World Player of the Year (1): 2008
• The Best FIFA Men’s Player (2): 2016, 2017
• UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award (4): 2007-08, 2013-14, 2015-16, 2016-17
• Premier League titles (3): 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 (Manchester United)
• FA Cup (1): 2004 (Manchester United)
• League Cup (2): 2005-06, 2008-09 (Manchester United)
• UEFA Champions League (5): 2007-08 (Manchester United), 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 (Real Madrid)
• UEFA Super Cup (2) 2014, 2017 (Real Madrid)
• FIFA Club World Cup (4): 2008 (Manchester United), 2014, 2016, 2017 (Real Madrid)
• La Liga (2): 2011-12, 2016-17 (Real Madrid)
• Copa del Rey (2): 2010-11, 2013-14 (Real Madrid)
• Spanish Super Cup (2): 2012, 2017 (Real Madrid)
• Serie A (2): 2018-19, 2019-20 (Juventus)
• Coppa Italia (1): 2020-21 (Juventus)
• Supercoppa Italiana (2): 2018, 2020 (Juventus)
• UEFA European Championship (1): 2016 (Portugal)
• UEFA Nations League (1): 2018-19 (Portugal)