Cristiano Ronaldo’s Early Life and the Path to Stardom

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Cristiano Ronaldo, in full Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, (born February 5, 1985, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal), a Portuguese football (soccer) forward who was one of the greatest players of his generation.

Ronaldo’s passion for football was evident early on, and despite financial hardships, his family supported his dreams of becoming a professional athlete.

Ronaldo began his football journey at eight years old, joining the local team Andorinha before moving on to Nacional, one of Madeira’s more prominent clubs.

Early Life

Nobody starts off as a highly successful elite athlete, let alone an accomplished professional businessperson. We all have a beginning, a starting point. And the same goes for Cristiano Ronaldo as well.

As a child, Ronaldo shared a room with three of his siblings due to their poor financial circumstances. He came from a household that was struggling financially, but he still found time to play the sport he loved and dream of greater things.

Cristiano wasn’t born a legend, but he did something early on that most likely impacted the trajectory of his life.

Despite being raised in a home that barely made ends meet on a remote island, and despite having a father who struggled with alcoholism, Ronaldo decided at a young age to be the best in the world.

Soccer was a big deal in Madeira, as it is in most of Europe, and Cristiano absolutely loved the sport. He loved it so much, that even when they couldn’t afford a ball to play the game with, he would use bottles, or make a ball made of rags instead. But a lack of money could not stop his insatiable love for the game.

Even when people doubted his future in the sport, saying he was too skinny, Ronaldo would use their doubt as fuel and often sneak into the gym to bulk up.

Ronaldo was lighting fast, had great footwork, and loved winning. A rise that saw him by the young age of 10, to be considered the best on his entire island.

Career

He first played for Clube Desportivo Nacional of Madeira and then transferred to Sporting Clube de Portugal (known as Sporting Lisbon), where he played for that club’s various youth teams before making his debut on Sporting’s first team in 2002.

A tall player at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 metres), Ronaldo was a formidable athlete on the pitch. Originally a right-winger, he developed into a forward with a free-reined attacking style. He was able to mesmerize opponents with a sleight of foot that made sufficient space for openings in opposing defenses.

Club play

In just six short years after leaving his hometown and his family, his talent, dedication to training, and prowess on the pitch (field) would have him become the youngest player ever to sign a contract with Europe’s most prestigious professional football league, ‘Manchester United’. And this transaction would become one of the most expensive transfer contracts to date.

He was an instant sensation and soon came to be regarded as one of the best forwards in the game. His finest season with United came in 2007–08 when he scored 42 League and Cup goals and earned the Golden Shoe award as Europe’s leading scorer, with 31 League goals.

After helping United to a Champions League title in May 2008, Ronaldo captured Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year honors for his stellar 2007–08 season.

He also led United to an appearance in the 2009 Champions League final, which they lost to FC Barcelona.

Soon thereafter Ronaldo was sold to Spain’s Real Madrid for a then-record £80 million (about $131 million) transfer fee.

His scoring prowess continued with his new team, and he netted the most goals (40) in La Liga history during the 2010–11 season (his record was broken the following season by his rival Lionel Messi of Barcelona).

In 2011–12 Ronaldo helped Madrid capture a La Liga championship and scored a personal-best 46 goals during the League season. He scored a total of 66 goals in 56 appearances with Madrid and the Portuguese national team in 2013 to earn his second World Player of the Year award (the FIFA World Player of the Year was renamed the FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2010).

In 2014 he scored 52 goals in 43 games and led Madrid to a Champions League title, which resulted in Ronaldo capturing another Ballon d’Or award.

In 2014–15 he netted 48 goals to lead La Liga in scoring. Ronaldo netted his 324th goal as a member of Real in October 2015 to become the club’s all-time leading goal scorer.

He scored 35 La Liga goals in 2015–16 and helped Real win its record 11th Champions League title, and in December 2016 he won a fourth career Ballon d’Or for his accomplishments.

Ronaldo scored 42 goals for Real across all competitions in 2016–17 and led his team to La Liga and Champions League titles that season, which resulted in a fifth career Ballon d’Or award.

In 2017–18 he scored 44 goals in 44 games, and Real won a third straight Champions League title.

In July 2018 he reached a four-year contract worth €112 million (about $132 million) with the Italian powerhouse Juventus. He finished his Real career with 311 goals in 292 matches.

He scored 28 goals in his first season with Juventus—his lowest domestic goal total since his last season with Manchester United—as the powerhouse club won its eighth straight Italian league title.

In the 2019–20 season, Ronaldo helped the club capture another league title, and Juventus later won the 2020 Supercoppa Italiana and the 2021 Coppa Italia Final.

His second stint with Manchester United proved disappointing, however. Both Ronaldo and Manchester struggled, and he expressed growing dissatisfaction with the club.

In November 2022 his contract was terminated by “mutual agreement.” The following month Ronaldo signed with the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.

Cristiano Ronaldo's biggest accomplishments

He’s won 5 Ballon d’Or awards, he holds the record for most goals in the UEFA Champions League and the EUFE Championship, the FIFA World Cup, and the UEFA Nations League Finals.

He received the FIFA Player of The Year Award, 2 of The Best FIFA Men’s Player Awards, a FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball Award, 3 FIFPro World Player of the Year Awards, 5 World Soccer Player of the Year Awards, 6 Globe Soccer Awards for the Best Player of the Year, 3 Gold Onze Mondial Awards, and the Golden Foot Award.

He’s also the first person in the world to reach over 500 million social media followers, the first active team sport player to earn over $1 billion dollars, and the first to play over 200 international matches.

He’s also won hundreds of other national and region awards as well, throughout his colorful professional soccer career playing for various clubs.

Future Career and Personal Life

Currently, Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Saudi Arabia’s All Nassr and earns a salary of $200 million dollars a year. But his ambition has not been limited to just the profession of football.

He’s also a successful businessman who has a strong personal brand and earns plenty of money as the owner of multiple hotels in Portugal, gyms throughout Europe, and a hair transplant clinic in Spain.

Cristiano has proven to be a success both on and off the field. And there is no doubt that his future both in sports and in business looks bright.

Conclusion

So, now that we covered all of Cristiano Ronaldo’s accomplishments, we now want to leave you with the ethos that has driven him to achieve the massive amounts of success and fame that he currently enjoys.