CRISTIANO RONALDO
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro born 5 February 1985 is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and captains the Portugal national team.
Ronaldo who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time has won five Ballon d’Or awards and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player. He has won over 30 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, and the UEFA European Championship.
Ronaldo currently holds the records for most Champions League appearances (183), goals (140), and assists (42), most goals in the European Championship (14), most international goals by a player (117), and international appearances by a European (191). He is one of the few players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances and has scored over 800 official senior career goals.
CAREER LIFE
Cristiano Ronaldo began his senior career with Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, at the age of 18, winning the FA Cup in his first season. He also went on to win three consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
At age 23, he won his first Ballon d’Or award. In 2009, Ronaldo was signed for Real Madrid in a transfer worth €94 million (£80 million), where he won 15 trophies, and became the club’s all-time top goalscorer. He won back-to-back Ballons d’Or in 2013 and 2014, and again in 2016 and 2017, and was runner-up three times behind Lionel Messi.
In 2018, he signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million (£88 million), the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and a player over 30 years old. He won two Serie A titles, two Supercoppe Italiana, and a Coppa Italia before he returned to Manchester United in 2021.
Cristiano Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18 and has since earned over 190 caps, making him Portugal’s most-capped player. He is also the nation’s all-time top goalscorer with over 100 goals.
Ronaldo scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 and he assumed the captaincy of the national team in July 2008. In 2015, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation. The following year, he led Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016 and received the Silver Boot as the second-highest goalscorer of the tournament. He also led them to victory in the UEFA Nations League in 2019, and later received the Golden Boot as the top scorer of Euro 2020.
CONCLUSION
Cristiano Ronaldo is unarguably one of the world’s most marketable and famous athletes. He was ranked the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 and the world’s most famous athlete by ESPN from 2016 to 2019. He was included on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014 and he is the first footballer and the third sportsman to earn 1 billion USD in his career.
