Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

Cristiano Ronaldo - Croatia vs Portugal, 10th June 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH (born 5 February 1985), commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and who serves as captain of the Portuguese national team. He became the most expensive footballer in history on his 2009 move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$131.6 million), a record that would later be reportedly broken by Gareth Bale, who joined Real Madrid in 2013 for £85 million (€100 million). Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15 million) in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup.

Ronaldo was the first player playing in England to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or. He placed second in the Ballon d'Or in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in both 2008 and 2011. In 2008, he won three of the four main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, Onze d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year.^[8][9][10] In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo was the inaugural winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for the Goal of the Year in 2009.

Ronaldo is regarded to be one of the finest footballers in today's game and as one of the greatest of all time. Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, fastest Real Madrid player to reach one hundred league goals, and the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga. He also holds records for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid and most goals scored per minute in La Liga for a Real Madrid player. In January 2013, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 300th club goal.

Ronaldo is a Portuguese international and made his debut against Kazakhstan in August 2003. He has been capped over 100 times and is his country's second-highest goalscorer of all time. With Portugal he has participated in five major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. He scored his first international goal in the opening game of the Euro 2004 against Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach the final. He took over the captaincy of the side in July 2008 and went on to captain Portugal to the semi-finals at the Euro 2012 and finished the competition as the joint best scorer.

He wore the number 7 shirt at United, which was previously worn by Johnny Berry, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham, subsequently worn by Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia. After spending his first year at Madrid wearing the number 9 shirt, he began wearing the number 7 again following the departure of the legendary Raúl.