Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, born 5 February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, is a Portuguese forward who captains both Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League and the Portugal national team. Known as CR7, he is considered among football's all-time greats, with five Ballon d'Or awards, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year honors, and four European Golden Shoes. FIFA named him the world's best player five times.

His career began at Sporting CP, then moved to Manchester United in 2003. There he won three straight Premier League titles, the 2007–08 Champions League, and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, earning his first Ballon d'Or at 23. In 2009, Real Madrid paid a then-record €94 million (£80 million) for him. He drove Madrid's resurgence, winning four Champions Leagues from 2014 to 2018—including La Décima in 2014, where he set the single-season Champions League scoring record—plus two La Liga titles. He collected Ballon d'Ors in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, and became Madrid's all-time top scorer.

After friction with Madrid's hierarchy, Ronaldo moved to Juventus in 2018 for a Serie A-record €100 million. He helped secure two consecutive Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, and the 2021 Capocannoniere as top scorer. He returned to Manchester United in 2021, but his contract was terminated in 2022 after a public dispute. Joining Al-Nassr in 2023, he led them to the 2026 Saudi Pro League title and finished as league top scorer in 2024 and 2025.

Ronaldo debuted for Portugal in 2003 at 18, scoring his first international goal at Euro 2004, where Portugal reached the final. He became captain before Euro 2008 and led the team to its first major trophy at Euro 2016. At Euro 2020, he won the Golden Boot as top scorer. He also won the UEFA Nations League in 2019 and 2025, finishing as top scorer both times.

In 2026, he became the first player to score in six World Cups and Portugal's all-time World Cup top scorer with 11 goals. He holds records for most Champions League goals (140) and assists (42), most European Championship goals (14) and assists (8), most international appearances (233), most men's international goals (146), and most international victories (141). He is the only player to score 100 goals with four different clubs and finish as top scorer in four different domestic leagues.

With over 1,300 professional appearances—most by an outfield player—and over 970 official senior career goals, he is the all-time top scorer.

Ronaldo has won 35 trophies, including five Champions Leagues, two UEFA Nations Leagues, and the European Championship. He was named in the UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year (2015), the All-time UEFA Euro XI (2016), and the Ballon d'Or Dream Team (2020). FIFA gave him a special Outstanding Career Achievement award in 2021.

Off the pitch, Ronaldo is one of the most famous and marketable athletes. Sportico ranked him the third highest-paid athlete ever in April 2026. That same year, Forbes listed him among the world's billionaires, with a net worth of $1.2 billion. Time included him on its 100 most influential people list in 2014. He is the most popular athlete on social media, with over 1 billion followers across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Ronaldo grew up in Santo António, near Funchal, Madeira. His mother, Maria Dolores, worked as a cook and cleaner; his father, José Dinis, was a municipal gardener and part-time kit man for Andorinha. José served in the Portuguese Army during the Colonial War in Angola, an experience that left him traumatized and struggling with alcoholism. Ronaldo has Cape Verdean ancestry through his great-grandmother, Isabel da Piedade.

He has an older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana "Kátia" Cátia. His father, an admirer of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, named him after the president. His mother considered aborting him due to poverty, her husband's alcoholism, and having too many children, but her doctor refused. Raised in an impoverished Catholic home, sharing a room with his siblings, Ronaldo remains a Catholic. As a youth, he idolized Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.

He played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995, then Nacional for two years. At 12, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, which signed him for £1,500, prompting his move from Madeira to Lisbon.