Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo, whose full name is Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, was born on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.⁠[1][2]

Ronaldo began his professional career with the Lisbon club Sporting CP. On October 7, 2002, aged 17 years, eight months, and three days, he scored twice in Sporting’s 3–0 win over Moreirense, the first goals of his career in competitive matches; by the time he left the club in the summer of 2003, he had made only 25 first-team appearances in the Portuguese Superliga.⁠[3][4]

On August 12, 2003, Manchester United signed the 18-year-old Ronaldo from Sporting for £12.24 million on a five-year contract and gave him the No. 7 shirt vacated by David Beckham; he became the most expensive teenager in British football at the time and the first Portuguese player to join the club. Manager Alex Ferguson said that after a match against Sporting, his players had urged him on the flight home to sign the player, calling him “one of the most exciting young players I’ve ever seen.”⁠[2][2][4][4][2][2][2]

On August 16, Ronaldo made his debut as a substitute in the opening Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers, in which United scored three goals in the last half-hour to win; Ferguson called it “a marvellous debut.”⁠[5][5][5]

On May 22, 2004, Manchester United beat Millwall 3–0 in the FA Cup final; the 19-year-old Ronaldo opened the scoring with a header and was the best player on the pitch.⁠[6][6][6][6][6]

In 2004, the 19-year-old Ronaldo played in the European Championship for the first time; in the opening match on June 12, which Portugal lost 1–2 to Greece, he scored his first European Championship goal. Host nation Portugal ultimately lost the final on home soil.⁠[7][7][8]

Portugal finished fourth at the 2006 World Cup. In the quarterfinal against England, his Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off, and Ronaldo’s role in the incident drew anger in British public opinion; after the third-place match defeat by Germany, he said, “I think I should get out of Manchester,” adding that he had always wanted to play in Spain.⁠[9][10][10][10][10]

In the 2007–08 season, Ronaldo scored 31 Premier League goals, becoming the fifth player in Premier League history to reach 30 league goals in a single season, and helped Manchester United retain the title ahead of Chelsea in a fierce title race; as of May, he had scored 41 goals in all competitions.⁠[11][11][11]

In the Champions League final on May 21, 2008, Manchester United beat Chelsea in a penalty shootout to win the title. Ronaldo scored the opening goal but missed his penalty in the shootout; John Terry and Nicolas Anelka then missed in turn, and United came back to win. After the match, he called it “the best day of his life” and confirmed he would stay at the club.⁠[12][12][12][13]

On December 2, 2008, Ronaldo was named the winner of France Football’s Ballon d’Or, with 77 of the 96 voting journalists ranking him first; Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres finished second and third. He was the first Manchester United player to win the award since George Best in 1968, and the third Portuguese winner after Eusebio and Luis Figo.⁠[14][14][14]

On June 11, 2009, Manchester United announced that it had accepted an £80 million offer from Real Madrid and, at the request of Ronaldo, who had again asked to leave, allowed the two clubs and the player to hold talks; the transfer fee set a world record. Ronaldo said it was a “fair price” and called Ferguson “my father in sport.”⁠[15][15][16][16]

On July 6, 2009, Ronaldo was officially presented at the Bernabéu in front of 80,000 fans, with Eusebio and Alfredo Di Stéfano in attendance; he signed a six-year contract that day and said he had fulfilled his childhood dream of joining Real Madrid.⁠[1][17][17][17]

On January 13, 2014, Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the second time. In 2013, he became the fastest player in Real Madrid history to score 200 goals and signed a contract extension with the club; Messi had won the Ballon d’Or in each of the previous four years, with Ronaldo finishing second three times.⁠[18][18][18]

In the 2013–14 season, Ronaldo scored 17 goals in the Champions League, breaking the single-season record of 14 set by José Altafini and equaled by Messi, and finished as the Champions League’s top scorer for the second consecutive season; in the final on May 24, he converted a penalty in the 120th minute of extra time as Real Madrid won the title.⁠[19][19][19][19][13]

On January 12, 2015, Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or for the third time. In 2014, he scored 56 goals for Real Madrid, and he won 37.66% of the vote, well ahead of runner-up Messi; he said he wanted to become one of the greatest players of all time.⁠[20][20][20][20]

On May 28, 2016, Real Madrid played city rivals Atlético Madrid in the Champions League final at San Siro; after a 1–1 draw, Real Madrid won the penalty shootout 5–3, with Ronaldo scoring the winning penalty, as the club won the European Cup for the 11th time.⁠[21][21]

In the European Championship final on July 10, 2016, Portugal faced host nation France. Captain Ronaldo injured his knee in the first half and was carried off on a stretcher in tears, after which he encouraged the team from the sidelines; Éder scored in extra time, and Portugal won 1–0 to claim the first major tournament title in the national team’s history.⁠[22][22][8][8][23]

On December 12, 2016, Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or for the fourth time, one short of Messi’s record of five; that year he won the Champions League with Real Madrid and led Portugal to the European Championship title.⁠[23][23]

On July 31, 2017, Ronaldo was questioned for about 90 minutes by Judge Mónica Ferrer Gómez at a court in Madrid. Prosecutors accused him of concealing taxable income through the sale of image rights between 2011 and 2014 and evading €14.7 million in taxes; he denied the allegations.⁠[24][24][24]

In 2017, Ronaldo won the Champions League again with Real Madrid in Cardiff, retaining the title, and also won La Liga. On December 7, he received his fifth Ballon d’Or at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, equaling Messi’s record; the two had won the award between them for ten consecutive years.⁠[25][25][25][25][13]

On May 26, 2018, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3–1 in Kyiv, and Ronaldo became the first player since the competition’s reformatting as the Champions League to win it five times: in 2008 with Manchester United, and in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 with Real Madrid.⁠[13][13]

Ronaldo spent nine seasons at Real Madrid, scoring 451 goals in 438 competitive matches to become the club’s all-time top scorer; during that time, he won honors including four Champions League titles, three Club World Cups, and two La Liga titles, and won the Ballon d’Or four times.⁠[1][1][1][1]

On July 10, 2018, Juventus and Real Madrid agreed on a €100 million transfer fee, and the 33-year-old Ronaldo, at his own request, left Real Madrid after nine years and signed a four-year contract with Juventus. In an open letter to Real Madrid fans, he said he had “only feelings of enormous gratitude” for the club and the city.⁠[26][26][26][26]

On January 22, 2019, Ronaldo appeared in court in Madrid and admitted committing tax fraud while playing for Real Madrid; under an agreement with prosecutors and tax authorities, he paid an €18.8 million fine in exchange for a 23-month suspended prison sentence. Prosecutors had accused him of underpaying €14.8 million in taxes between 2011 and 2014 by using a shell company in the British Virgin Islands to conceal image rights income. Spanish law allows sentences of two years or less for first-time offenders to be suspended.⁠[27][27][27][27]

On June 9, 2019, Portugal beat the Netherlands 1–0 in the inaugural UEFA Nations League final at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, with Gonçalo Guedes scoring the only goal, and captain Ronaldo lifted the trophy; it was Portugal’s next title after the 2016 European Championship.⁠[28][28][28][28]

In 2018, an American woman accused Ronaldo of sexually assaulting her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009 and filed a civil lawsuit against him in U.S. federal court, saying he had paid her $375,000 to keep quiet. On July 22, 2019, Clark County, Nevada, District Attorney Steve Wolfson announced that the allegations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and that no criminal charges would be filed. Ronaldo’s lawyer said the relations between the two had been consensual.⁠[29][29][29][29][29][29][29]

On July 26, 2020, Ronaldo opened the scoring as Juventus beat Sampdoria 2–0 at home, clinching the club’s ninth consecutive Serie A title with games to spare.⁠[30][30]

On August 27, 2021, Manchester United announced an agreement with Juventus to re-sign Ronaldo for an initial €15 million plus up to €8 million in bonuses, with a two-year contract expected; Manchester City had earlier been seen as his most likely destination.⁠[31][31][31]

In a World Cup qualifier on September 1, 2021, Ronaldo first missed a penalty and then scored two headers in the closing stages to help Portugal come from behind to beat Ireland. His international tally rose to 111 goals in 180 matches, surpassing the 109 goals of Iranian great Ali Daei and making him the highest scorer in the history of men’s international football.⁠[32][32][32][32]

In June 2022, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the civil lawsuit with no option to refile, on the grounds that the plaintiff’s lawyer had obtained in bad faith and continued to use leaked and stolen documents of communications between Ronaldo and his lawyers; the plaintiff could appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.⁠[33][33][33][33]

In November 2022, in an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Ronaldo criticized Manchester United, saying the owners, the Glazer family, “do not care about the club,” and that he was being forced out and manager Erik ten Hag did not respect him. On November 22, Manchester United announced that the two sides had agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect, without a payoff; across his two spells, he made 346 appearances and scored 145 goals for the club.⁠[34][34][35][35][35][35][35]

In a group match against Ghana at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo scored a penalty, becoming the first male player to score at five World Cups; in December of that year, he made his 196th appearance for Portugal, setting the record for appearances in men’s international football. In the round of 16 against Switzerland, he did not start, and his replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, scored a hat-trick as Portugal won 6–1.⁠[36][36][37][37][38]

On December 30, 2022, Ronaldo, who had left Manchester United as a free agent, joined Al Nassr of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on a two-and-a-half-year contract running until June 2025. He said he had won everything he set out to win in European football and that now was the right moment to share his experience in Asia.⁠[39][40][39][40]

On June 20, 2023, in a European Championship qualifier away to Iceland, Ronaldo made his 200th appearance for Portugal, becoming the first player to reach 200 international appearances, and scored the winning goal in the 89th minute.⁠[41][41]

On August 21, 2024, Ronaldo launched a YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel called UR, which passed 1 million subscribers 1 hour and 29 minutes after going live, setting the record for the fastest to reach that figure; two days later, it had more than 30 million subscribers.⁠[42][43][43][43]

On August 29, 2024, at the Champions League league phase draw ceremony in Monaco, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin presented a special award to Ronaldo as the Champions League’s all-time top scorer. He has scored 140 goals in 183 Champions League appearances, 11 more than Messi.⁠[44][44][44]

On September 5, 2024, the 39-year-old Ronaldo scored the 900th goal of his career, also his 131st for Portugal, in a Nations League match against Croatia, after which he dropped to his knees by the corner flag in tears. According to Opta, he had by then scored 450 goals for Real Madrid, 145 for Manchester United, and 101 for Juventus.⁠[3][3][3][3][3]

On June 8, 2025, in the Nations League final in Munich, the 40-year-old Ronaldo equalized to make it 2–2 around the 60th minute and was substituted, exhausted, late in normal time; Portugal beat Spain 5–3 in a penalty shootout to win their second Nations League title, the 34th trophy of Ronaldo’s career.⁠[45][45][45][45]

On June 26, 2025, Ronaldo signed a two-year extension with Al Nassr through June 2027. A month earlier, after the final league match of the season, he had posted that “the chapter is over,” prompting speculation about his departure.⁠[46][46]

On November 13, 2025, Portugal suffered an unexpected defeat to Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, and Ronaldo was sent off after being judged to have elbowed defender Dara O’Shea, the first red card of his 226 matches for Portugal. On November 25, FIFA’s disciplinary committee reduced the customary three-match ban for violent conduct to one match, with the other two suspended for a one-year probation period; as he had already missed Portugal’s final qualifier against Armenia, he was eligible to play in the opening World Cup match.⁠[47][47][47][47]

On February 26, 2026, Ronaldo acquired a 25% stake in the Spanish second-division club UD Almería through the newly formed CR7 Sports Investments, becoming a co-owner of the club; he said that contributing to football off the pitch had long been an ambition of his.⁠[48][48][48]

In the 2025–26 season, Ronaldo scored 28 goals in 30 league matches under head coach Jorge Jesus. Al Nassr clinched the title on the final matchday with a 4–1 win over Damac, in which Ronaldo scored twice; it was Al Nassr’s first league title in seven years, Ronaldo’s first league title in his fourth Saudi season, and his first major trophy since moving to Saudi Arabia in 2022. Five days earlier, Al Nassr had lost the AFC Champions League Two final to Gamba Osaka of Japan, and Ronaldo had been criticized for leaving the field soon after the final whistle and missing the award ceremony.⁠[49][49][49][9][50][50]

In 2026, the 41-year-old Ronaldo played in his sixth World Cup. In a group match against Uzbekistan, he scored twice in the first half, becoming the first player to score at six World Cups and ending a run of 10 consecutive major tournament matches without a goal.⁠[51][52][52][52]

On July 6, 2026, Portugal lost 0–1 to Spain in a World Cup round of 16 match in Dallas, with substitute Mikel Merino scoring the only goal in stoppage time. Ronaldo had confirmed before the match that this would be his last World Cup; after the match, head coach Roberto Martínez left his post, and in July the Portuguese Football Federation appointed Jorge Jesus, Ronaldo’s former head coach at Al Nassr, as his successor on a four-year contract.⁠[9][9][9][9]

In September 2026, Ronaldo was named in the first national team squad after Jesus took charge, by which time he had scored 979 career goals. In the away match against Norway on September 27, he spent the entire match on the bench, warming up from the second half onward without ever being brought on, and did not acknowledge the fans after the match. On September 30, Jesus said at a pre-match press conference that Ronaldo would not start against Denmark and denied any rift between them; Ronaldo then announced that he was leaving the training camp in Copenhagen, writing, “In due course, I will tell the truth to all the Portuguese people about my reasons for leaving the national team.” The Portuguese Football Federation confirmed his departure and said the remaining 24 players would continue preparations, and Portugal went on to beat Denmark 4–2.⁠[50][50][53][54][55][53][53][55][51]

The Portuguese Football Federation’s disciplinary regulations provide that a player who leaves national team activities without good reason shall be suspended for one to six months and fined. Teammate Bruno Fernandes said that, whatever the outcome, Ronaldo will always be the greatest symbol of the national team and of Portuguese football.⁠[51][56]

On October 6, 2026, Ronaldo published a lengthy statement saying that Jesus had agreed to let him miss the matches against Norway and Denmark to manage his fitness, but on the day of the Norway match changed course, telling him he would play for 30 minutes, and in the end did not use him; afterward, with the involvement of Al Nassr sporting director Simão Coutinho, the two agreed that Jesus would clarify eight points at his next press conference, but Jesus’s public remarks were entirely inconsistent with what had been agreed privately, and “it was the second time he had broken his word to me,” so he decided to leave the squad. Jesus denied having reached any agreement with Ronaldo but said he would welcome his return.⁠[54][54][54][57][54][54]

Ronaldo also apologized for not acknowledging the fans after the match and for leaving his teammates, saying that as captain his conduct was more serious and that its consequences should be assessed and punished by the Portuguese Football Federation; he said that as long as his physical condition allows and he keeps playing at club level, he will remain available to the national team after serving the punishment. As of October 2026, he has scored 146 goals for Portugal.⁠[54][54][54][51]

Cristiano Ronaldo: Official website: https://www.cristianoronaldo.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[58]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Cristiano (opens in a new window)⁠[58]

Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/cr7cristianoronaldo (opens in a new window)⁠[58]

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