Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, born 5 February 1985 is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger for Spanish club Real Madrid and serves as captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo currently holds the distinction of being the most expensive player in football history after having transferred toReal Madrid in a deal worth £80 million (€94m, US$132m). His contract with Real Madrid is also expected to make him the highest-paid player in the world.
Ronaldo began his career as a youth player at CD Nacional and his successes with the team led to a move to Sporting Clube de Portugal 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, theFA Cup, and reached the UEFA Euro 2004 final with Portugal, in which tournament he scored his first international goal.
In 2008, Ronaldo won his first UEFA Champions League title, and was named player of the tournament. He was named theFIFPro 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 Cruyff 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.“
Real Madrid
On 26 June 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009, after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract. It is believed that Ronaldo’s contract is worth €13 million per season and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause. He was presented to the world’s media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July 2009, where he was handed the number 9 jersey, most recently worn by Javier Saviola. The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend Alfredo di Stéfano. Ronaldo was welcomed by 80,000 fans at his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, surpassing Diego Maradona’s record of 75,000 fans when he was presented in Italy, after he was transferred fromBarcelona to Napoli in 1984.
