CRISTIANO RONALDO Biography and Profile

Full Name: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro Birth date: February 5th, 1985 Birthplace: Funchal, Madeira - Portugal Height: 186 cm (1m 86cm) Weight: 84 kg Field position: Left/right winger, striker/forward First professional club: Sporting Clube de Portugal Career debut: October 7th 2002, against Moreirense Current club: Real Madrid (since 2009) International team: Portugal International debut: August 20th 2003, against Kazakhstan Nicknames: CR7, CR9 Cristiano Ronaldo biography 1985-2012 Cristiano Ronaldo is the son of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro (a cooker) and José Dinis Aveiro (a Municipal gardener). Many say that Ronaldo's humble family origins are the reason why CR7 manages to deal so well with the fame and spotlights he has nowadays. Cristiano Ronaldo has two older sisters, Liliana Cátia and Elma, and one older brother, Hugo.

Cristiano Ronaldo first steps in football/soccer were made in his amateur hometown club called Andorinha, when he was still 8 years old. A couple years later, CR7 moved to CD Nacional, one of the most known teams in Madeira, around his 10th birthday. But he didn't stay there for too long and the year after (1996), Ronaldo was persuaded to join Sporting Lisbon, one of the biggest clubs in Portugal.

It's now clear that 1996 was a turnaround year in Cristiano Ronaldo life. By joining Sporting CP, Ronaldo had to leave his family back in Madeira and start learning how to live on his own. CR7 trained with the youth team in the first years and in 2002, by the age of 16, he made his senior debut against Moreirense, in the Portuguese First Division. In that match, Ronaldo scored a brace and immediatly caught everyone's attention upon him. The European debut took place later on, in the UEFA Champions League qualifier match against Inter Milan.

By the age of 17, Cristiano Ronaldo really started to attract many attentions throughout the World, and his tremendous performances when playing for Portugal's Youth Team in UEFA's Under 17 Championship, made him one of the most promising stars of the moment. Among many other top clubs, Liverpool and Arsenal had some scouts on that tournament. Managers Gérard Houllier and Arsene Wenger were allegadly interested in signing Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it was revealed later that both clubs got a bit hesitant on betting in such a young player and Manchester United ended up to rush things and sign Ronaldo in the 2003 pre-season.

The moment Cristiano Ronaldo definately convinced a top club to sign him, was after a 2003 pre-season friendly match, between Sporting and Manchester United, in the inauguration of the "Estádio José de Alvalade" in Lisbon. The Portuguese side defeated the Red Devils by 3-1 and United players were said to be stunned by Cristiano Ronaldo's technique skills as well as his natural talent and kept talking about it on their way home. Rumors say that Sir Alex Ferguson had a chat with his team players and then decided to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, in a transfer fee around 15 million euros (£12.24 million pounds).

Cristiano Ronaldo's adventure in England, started with a memorable debut for Manchester United, coming in as a substitute against Bolton Wanderers and playing for around half an hour. Those 30 minutes are probably still in the memory of many Manchester United fans, since CR7 stunned everyone in the stadium and impressed the traditional harsh English media, with his dazzling dribbles and runs over the wing. Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United, by taking a curled free kick, in a 3-0 win against Portsmouth, in November 2003. However, and despite several promising starts, Cristiano Ronaldo's first two seasons in Manchester United received mixed reviews. He got praised for his technique and skills, but he often got criticised for lacking consistency and poor decision making on the field, which seems to be a natural thing at the age of 17 and 18.

In the year of 2005, Cristiano Ronaldo's father, José Dinis Aveiro, died of an alcoholism liver disease. Ronaldo was 20 years old and that was one of his most difficult moments of his life. CR7 is said to not drink any alcohol as a consequence of what happened with his father.

Regarding the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano Ronaldo made his senior debut against Kazakhstan a few weeks later, just after being signed by Manchester United, in a match played in August 2003. CR7's first biggest tournament was the Euro 2004, organized by Portugal and Ronaldo managed to help his team reaching the finals, but ended up by being defeated by Greece. Cristiano Ronaldo photos in tears after the match were the Portuguese soul mirror that afternoon and those images got spread all around the World. A couple years later, in the World Cup 2006 played in Germany, Ronaldo was caught up in a very big controversy, after allegedly pressuring and influencing the referee to send off his Manchester United team mate and England's striker/forward Wayne Rooney, in the quarter finals clash between England and Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo ended up being used as the scapegoat for England's defeat in the World Cup and the hatred towards him the following season, could be seen on every stadium the Red Devils had to play. English fans showed CR7 how much they got upset with the World Cup elimination and started insulting and "booing" Cristiano Ronaldo on every match outside Old Trafford. That situation made CR7 think about leaving England and Manchester United. However, Sir Alex Ferguson managed to convince him to stay and, against all odds, Cristiano Ronaldo surprised everyone with a great season in the English Premiership League. Ronaldo was quoted saying: "All the boos and insults just motivate me training harder and playing better".

In 2007, Cristiano Ronaldo won the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year Award and was also voted Footballer of the Year, by the Football Writers Association. That same year and for the first time, Ronaldo also made up to the top 3 finalists for both the FIFA World Player of the Year trophy and the European Player of the Year award. Cristiano Ronaldo kept on his outstanding form in the 2007-2008 season and scored 42 goals in all competitions (31 in the English Premier League), allowing him to be voted again for the PFA Player of The Year and the Football Writers Footballer of the Year. CR7 rising performances allowed Manchester United to win two titles that season, those being the English Premier League and also the UEFA Champions League trophy, in which Ronaldo scored a goal in the final, after a superb header.

The 2008 year was definately Cristiano Ronaldo glory year at Manchester United and after having won the UEFA Champions League, Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year (2008) and the European Player of the Year (2008). In the 2008-2009 season, Cristiano Ronaldo scored another 26 goals, which helped Manchester United to win another English Premier League title and reaching again the final of the UEFA Champions League, in which they ended by losing against Barcelona this time, by 0-2.

In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo broke another record by becoming the World's most expensive football player, after transfering from Manchester United to Real Madrid in July 2009, in a £80 million pounds transfer (around 94 million euros and 132 million US dollars). That was an historic moment, and more than 80 000 fans received and welcomed Cristiano Ronaldo in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, during his official presentation. Ronaldo's career in Real Madrid started well, scoring plenty of goals on his first matches and only getting stopped by his first injury, in October 2009. However, CR7 recovered his form a few months later and still managed to score 33 goals on his first season playing for Real Madrid, which unfortunately, didn't prove to be enough for the club to win any trophies in the 2009-2010 season.

As for the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano Ronaldo captained Portugal at the 2010 FIFA World Cup played in South Africa, but the "Lusitanos" got eliminated in the last 16, against the future World Champions, Spain, getting defeated by 1-0.

In the 3rd of July, 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo announced on his facebook page that he had become a father. The information shocked many fans since there's still a big mistery nowadays, on who is the mother of the Cristiano Ronaldo's son. CR7 requested privacy and named his son with his own name, Cristiano Ronaldo Junior. The child is currently in Ronaldo's full custody, while being helped by his mother and sisters.

In the 2010-2011 season, Cristiano Ronaldo had an outstanding personal performance, breaking several all-time records, not only in Real Madrid, but also in the Spanish League. Ronaldo scored 41 goals in La Liga, breaking the previous 38 goal record set by Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra. CR7 scored a total of 54 goals and once again, won the Golden Boot award, beating Lionel Messi in the way, who finished the season with 53 goals. However, not everything was perfect, since Real Madrid only won the Copa del Rey and failed to conquer the Spanish League and the UEFA Champions League.

At the end of the 2011-2012 season, we'll update this biography and Cristiano Ronaldo life story.