Cristiano Ronaldo's Biography

Who is Cristiano Ronaldo?

He started playing football from a very young age and joined his local team Nacional when he was 12. He was later snapped up by Sporting Lisbon as a teenager.

Cristiano Ronaldo started playing in the first team at the age of 17 and went on to make 25 appearances in his first season scoring 3 goals, attracting the attention of Alex Ferguson who had sent scouts to watch his progress since he had joined Sporting.

As it happened, Manchester United met Sporting in a pre-season friendly and after Ronaldo played superbly, scoring a goal and dazzling the United defenders, Ferguson decided it was time to make his move and signed him for £12.24m.

Later, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that on the plane journey back from the friendly that some of his players actually urged him to sign Ronaldo, which showed how highly they rated him.

Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for the Manchester United against Bolton at Old Trafford in August, 2003.

In his first season, he won the Matt Busby Player of the Year Award.

Cristiano Ronaldo had come in for some criticism early in his career at United that despite all his skills he never really had an end product, however, following the end of the 2004-05 season, most commentators were remarking about his growing maturity and ability to finish off moves.

There is often speculation about Cristiano Ronaldo's love life, and at one stage he was romantically linked to the mysterious Jordana Jardel as well as Gemma Atkinson.

Cristiano Ronaldo made himself unpopular back in England after seeming to incite Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney to get sent off in the England v Portugal quarter-final in the 2006 World Cup.

Immediately after the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo was reported to want a move from Manchester United, however, he stayed at the club and extended his contract.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named Portugal's sportsman of the year (2006) by Portuguese newspaper A Bola.

The 2006/7 season was going so well for Cristiano Ronaldo that in January 2007, he was described by Paul Scholes as the best player in the world on current form.

It was no surprise when Cristiano Ronaldo was named the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for the 2006/7 season.

Cristiano Ronaldo was also named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.

The following year, Ronaldo had another stunning season and was again named Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Association footballer of the year.

On 15 November 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal for Manchester United. In the same game, against Stoke, he went on to score his 101st.

In December 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned 2008 European Footballer of the Year, winning the Ballon d'Or, after 77 out of 96 journalists voted him number one.

A month later, Cristiano Ronaldo was named the Fifa World Player of the Year for 2008.

In June 2009, the BBC reported that Manchester United had accepted a world record transfer offer of £80m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

On 1 July 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo's transfer had been completed.

On 21 May 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a record number of goals in a season in Primera Liga, reaching 40 goals.

On 18 June 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo gained a record-breaking 128th cap for Portugal, beating Luis Figo's record.

However, the match, which was a 0-0 draw against Austria in Euro 2016, was not one of Ronaldo's best and included him missing a penalty.

It was not long before Ronaldo found some form and when he scored against Hungary, he became the first man to score in four European Championships.

Ronaldo went on to captain the Portugal side that beat hosts France 1-0 in extra time in the final of Euro 2016, although Ronaldo himself was carried off injured in the 25th minute.

On 2 May 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second consecutive Champions League hat-trick in Real Madrid's 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final.

It took his goal tally in the Champions League to 103, the competition's top scorer.

In July 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo was transferred to Juventus for £99.2 million.

In January 2019, he agreed a deal with a court in Madrid over tax evasion charges, accepting an €18.8m fine and a suspended 23 month prison sentence.

In 2019, Ronaldo won silverware with both club and country. Juventus won serie A and Portugal won the inaugural Nations League.

In 2021, he was transferred back to Manchester United.

On 15 September 2022, he scored his first ever Europa Cup goal.

In October 2022, he passed another milestone when he scored his 700th club goal in Manchester United's win over Everton.

In November 2022, Ronaldo expressed disgruntlement with Manchester United. Shortly afterwards he left the club.

However, he was soon to make history again when he became the first men's player to score in five World Cups as he put away a penalty for Portugal against Ghana.

In December 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr, reportedly receiving more than £177m per year.