Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾɨʃˈtiɐnu ʁuˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger for English Premier League club Manchester United and the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo began his career as a youth player at Nacional and his successes with the team led to a move to Sporting CP two seasons afterwards. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and he signed the 18-year-old for £12.24 million in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup, and reached the UEFA Euro 2004 final with Portugal, in which he scored his first international goal. In 2008, Ronaldo won his first UEFA Champions League title, and was named the final's man of the match. He was named the FIFPro World Player of the Year and the FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to becoming Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years. Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Johan Cruijff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and José Dinis Aveiro. His second given name, "Ronaldo," was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor.^[5] He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.^[1]

Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the Alcochete, the club's football academy. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's U-16, U-17, U-18, B-team, and first team, all within one season.[7] He scored two goals in his Sporting debut against Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the UEFA Under 17 Championships.[8] When he was 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital. While there, he had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of his heart that was causing the problem.

The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.[9] He was first spotted by then-Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier at 16, but Liverpool declined to take him on because they decided he was too young and needed some time to develop his skills.[10] However, he came to the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. Ronaldo's performance impressed the Manchester United players, who urged Ferguson to sign him.[11]

Ronaldo was the second-highest scorer in FIFA World Cup qualification in the European zone with seven goals,[51] and scored his first and only World Cup goal against Iran with a penalty kick.[52] During a quarter-final match against England on 1 July 2006, Ronaldo's United teammate Wayne Rooney was sent off for stomping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho. The English media speculated that Ronaldo had influenced referee Horacio Elizondo's decision by aggressively complaining, after which he was seen in replays winking at the Portuguese bench following Rooney's dismissal. After the match, Ronaldo insisted that Rooney was a friend and that he was not pushing for Rooney to be sent off.[53] On 4 July, Elizondo clarified that the red card was due to Rooney's infraction and not the fracas between Rooney and Ronaldo that followed.[54] The angry reaction from the English press caused Ronaldo to consider leaving United,[55] and he allegedly told Spanish sports daily Marca that he wished to move to Real Madrid.[56] In response to the speculation, Ferguson sent Portuguese assistant manager Carlos Queiroz to speak to Ronaldo in attempt to change his mind, a sentiment that was shared by Rooney.[57][58] Ronaldo stayed, and signed his new five-year extension in April 2007.[59] Ronaldo was booed during Portugal's semifinal defeat to France, and missed out on the competition's Best Young Player award due to a negative e-mail campaign from England fans.[60] Though the online vote only affected the nomination process, FIFA's Technical Study Group awarded the honor to Germany's Lukas Podolski, citing Ronaldo's behaviour as a factor in the decision.[61

One day after his twenty-second birthday, Ronaldo captained Portugal for the first time in a friendly against Brazil on 6 February 2007. This move was in honour of Portuguese Football Federation president Carlos Silva, who had died two days earlier. Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari explained, "Mr. Silva asked me to make [Ronaldo] captain as a gesture... [he] is too young to be captain, but Mr. Silva asked me, and now he is no longer with us."[62] Ronaldo scored eight goals in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign,[63] but finished with only one goal in the tournament as Portugal were eliminated in the quarter-finals.