Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on February 5, 1985, in the parish of So Pedro in Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira, and grew up in the parish of Santo António. He is the fourth and youngest child of cook Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros da Aveiro and municipal gardener and part-time kit man José Dinis Aveiro.  Isabel da Piedade, his father's great-grandmother, was from the Cape Verdean island of So Vicente. Hugo is his older brother, and Elma and Liliana Cátia "Katia" are his older sisters.  His mother revealed that she wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father's alcoholism, and already having too many children, but her doctor refused to perform the procedure.Ronaldo spent two years with Nacional after playing for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995. where his father was the kit man. He went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP in 1997, when he was 12, and was signed for £1,500.  He later relocated from Madeira to Alcochete, close to Lisbon, to join Sporting's youth academy.  Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally by the age of 14 and agreed with his mother to forego his education in order to focus solely on football. With a troubled student life and living in the Lisbon area away from his Madeiran family, he did not finish school beyond the sixth grade.  Despite being popular with other students, he was expelled for throwing a chair at his teacher, whom he claimed had "disrespected" him. [18] He was diagnosed with tachycardia a year later, a condition that could have forced him to retire from football. Ronaldo had heart surgery in which a laser was used to join multiple cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart rate.  He was released from the hospital hours later and returned to training a few days later. 

Ronaldo was promoted from Sporting's youth team at the age of 16 by first-team manager László Bölöni, who was impressed with his dribbling.  He went on to become the club's first player to play for the under-16, under-17, and under-18 teams, as well as the B and first teams, all in the same season. A year later, on September 29, 2002, Ronaldo made his Premier League debut against Braga, and on October 7, 2002, he scored two goals in a 3-0 win over Moreirense.  During the 2002-03 season, his representatives recommended him to Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and Barcelona president Joan Laporta.  Arsène Wenger, who was interested in signing Ronaldo, met with him in November at Arsenal's stadium to discuss a possible transfer. 

After Sporting defeated United 3-1 at the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade in August 2003, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was determined to sign Ronaldo on a permanent basis as soon as possible. Initially, United intended to sign Ronaldo and then loan him to Sporting for a year.  United players urged Ferguson to sign him after being impressed by him. Following the game, Ferguson agreed to pay Sporting £12.24 million for "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen.  Sporting honoured Ronaldo as their 100,000th member in April 2013, a decade after his departure from the club. 

On 16 August 2003, Ronaldo made his Premier League debut as a substitute in a 4-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers, receiving a standing ovation when he came on for Nicky Butt.  Best praised his performance, calling it "undoubtedly the most exciting debut" he had ever seen. On November 1, Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free-kick in a 3-0 win over Portsmouth.Ronaldo finished his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3-0 FA Cup Final victory over Millwall.

On 29 October 2004, Ronaldo scored United's 1,000th Premier League goal in a 4-1 loss to Middlesbrough.  A few weeks later, he signed a two-year extension to his previous contract with the club. Ronaldo had two of his best games of the 2004-05 season at the start of 2005, scoring and assisting against Aston Villa and scoring twice against rivals Arsenal. He played the entire 120-minute match against Arsenal in the 2005 FA Cup Final, which ended in a goalless draw; despite Ronaldo's penalty shootout goal, United lost 5-4.  Ronaldo won his second English football trophy, the Football League Cup, after scoring the third goal in Manchester United's 4-0 victory English football.

During his third season in England, Ronaldo was involved in several incidents. He was given a one-match ban by UEFA for making a "one-fingered gesture" to Benfica fans,[52] and was sent off in the Manchester derby (a 3-1 loss) for kicking Manchester City's former United player Andy Cole.

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid ahead of the 2009-10 season for a world record transfer fee of £80 million (€94 million).  His contract, which ran until 2015, was worth €11 million per year and included a buy-out clause worth €1 billion.  At least 80,000 fans attended his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu, breaking the 25-year record set by Diego Maradona at Napoli.  Ronaldo received the number 9 shirt, which was presented to him by former Madrid player Alfredo Di Stéfano, because club captain Ral already wore the number 7 (the number Ronaldo wore at United).

Despite months of negotiating a new Real Madrid contract, Ronaldo signed a four-year contract with Italian club Juventus on 10 July 2018 after completing a €100 million transfer, which included an additional €12 million in other fees and solidarity contributions to Ronaldo's youth clubs.  The fee was the highest ever paid for a player over the age of 30, and the highest ever paid by an Italian club.  Ronaldo cited his desire for a new challenge as his reason for leaving Real Madrid at the time of his signing, but later blamed the move on a lack of support from club president Florentino Pérez.

Manchester United announced on August 27, 2021, that they had reached an agreement with Juventus to re-sign Ronaldo, subject to personal terms, visa, and medical approval.  The transfer was confirmed on August 31 for an initial £12.85 million, with a two-year contract plus an optional year. Ronaldo was given the number 7 jersey after Edinson Cavani agreed to switch to the number 21 jersey.  The first 24 hours of Ronaldo's shirt sales were reported to have broken the all-time record for a transfer, surpassing Messi's move to PSG.

On December 30, 2022, Saudi club Al Nassr reached an agreement with Ronaldo to join the club on January 1, 2023, with a contract until 2025.  According to The Guardian's Fabrizio Romano, Ronaldo received the highest football salary in history, worth €200 million per year. This included an annual guaranteed football salary of €90 million, with commercial and sponsorship deals bringing his total annual salary to €200 million.