Ronaldo is one of the most decorated players in the history of professional football, having won 35 trophies in his career, including five UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Nations Leagues and the UEFA European Championship. He holds the records for most goals (140) and assists (42) in the Champions League, most goals (14) and assists (8) in the European Championship, most international appearances (233), most men's international goals (146), and most international victories (141).
He is the only player to have scored 100 goals with four different clubs and to finish as top scorer in four different domestic leagues. He has made over 1,300 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 970 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.
Born in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo began his career with Sporting CP before signing with Manchester United in 2003. He gradually established himself as an integral player for the club, winning three consecutive Premier League titles, the 2007–08 Champions League, and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. For his performances in 2007–08, Ronaldo was awarded his first Ballon d'Or at age 23.
In 2009, he joined Real Madrid in a deal worth €94 million (£80 million), which was the most expensive transfer in history at the time. He was at the forefront of Madrid's resurgence as a dominant European force, helping them win four Champions Leagues between 2014 and 2018, including the long-awaited La Décima in 2014, where he set the record for most goals scored in a Champions League season.
With Madrid, he also won two La Liga titles, won the Ballon d'Or in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer.
Following issues with the hierarchy at Real Madrid, Ronaldo signed for Juventus in 2018 in a transfer worth a league record of €100 million, and was pivotal in winning two consecutive Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, and the Capocannoniere in 2021 as the league's top scorer. In 2021, he returned to Manchester United, but his contract was terminated in 2022 after a public dispute with the club's management.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in 2023, and led them to the Saudi Pro League title in 2026, while also finishing as the league's top scorer in 2024 and 2025.
Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18, and has earned more than 200 caps, making him history's most-capped male player. He scored his first international goal in Euro 2004, where he helped Portugal reach the final. He assumed the captaincy of the national team ahead of Euro 2008, and led Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016.
At Euro 2020, he received the Golden Boot as the top scorer. He won the UEFA Nations Leagues in 2019 and 2025, finishing as the top scorer in both the tournaments. In 2026, he became the first player to score in six World Cup tournaments and his country's top goalscorer at the World Cup (11).
One of the world's most famous and marketable athletes, Ronaldo was ranked by Sportico as the third highest-paid athlete of all time in April 2026. In 2026, Ronaldo appeared on the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the first time, with a net worth of $1.2 billion. Time included him on their list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.
He is the most popular athlete on social media, with over 1 billion followers across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Ronaldo was named in the UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year in 2015, the All-time UEFA Euro XI in 2016, and the Ballon d'Or Dream Team in 2020. In recognition of his record-breaking goalscoring success, he received special awards for Outstanding Career Achievement by FIFA in 2021.
Early life
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 in the São Pedro parish of Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira. He grew up in the nearby parish of Santo António. His mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros Aveiro, worked as a cook in the hospitality industry and as a cleaning woman.
His father, José Dinis Aveiro, was a municipal gardener at the Junta de Freguesia of Santo António and a part-time kit man for the football club Andorinha. Ronaldo's father had served in the Portuguese Army during the Portuguese Colonial War and saw combat in Angola; he was traumatized by his experiences, which led to a lifelong struggle with alcoholism.
Ronaldo has Cape Verdean ancestry through his great-grandmother, Isabel da Piedade, who was born on the island of São Vicente, in what was then Portuguese Cape Verde.
Ronaldo has an older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana "Kátia" Cátia. His father was an admirer of United States president Ronald Reagan, and named Ronaldo after him. Ronaldo's mother revealed that she had wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father's alcoholism, and having too many children already, but her doctor refused to perform the procedure.
Ronaldo grew up in an impoverished Catholic home, sharing a room with all his siblings, and continues to identify as a Catholic in his adulthood. He idolised the Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho and Ronaldo during his youth.
As a child, Ronaldo played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995, and later spent two years with Nacional. In 1997, at age 12, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, which signed him for a fee of £1,500. He moved from Madeira to Lisbon to join Sporting CP's youth system, and attended school at Escola EB2 de Telheiras, located in the city's Telheiras area.
While popular with other students, he struggled with his school responsibilities. He was expelled after throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him. A year later, he was diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that threatened to end his football career. He underwent cardiac ablation, a type of heart surgery in which a laser is used to cauterise multiple cardiac pathways into one, which altered his resting heart rate. He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed training a few days later.
By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play football semi-professionally. He made an agreement with his mother and his Sporting CP tutor, Leonel Pontes, to cease his education and focus entirely on football. He did not complete schooling beyond the 6th grade. In 2021, Ronaldo's mother stated in an interview that her son would have been a bricklayer if he had not become a professional football player.
Club career
Sporting CP
After impressing Sporting while playing for their youth teams, Ronaldo was promoted to the first team by manager László Bölöni. On 14 August 2002, at age 17, Ronaldo played his first official match for the first team, in a UEFA Champions League qualifying round against Inter Milan. His Primeira Liga debut occurred a month later against Braga, and on 7 October he scored two goals against Moreirense in Sporting's 3–0 win.
After Sporting defeated Manchester United 3–1 in a friendly on 6 August 2003, United manager Alex Ferguson was determined to acquire Ronaldo, describing him as "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen.
Manchester United
2003–2007: Development and breakthrough
On 12 August 2003, less than a week after the match that impressed Ferguson, Manchester United signed Ronaldo for £12 million, an England record for a teenager. He was the first Portuguese player to sign for the club. Although he requested the number 28, his number at Sporting, he received the squad number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by such United players as George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Wearing the number 7 became an extra source of motivation for Ronaldo. He would later describe Ferguson as his "father in sport" and "one of the most important and influential factors" in his career.
Ronaldo made his debut for United as a substitute in a 4–0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League on 16 August 2003. His performance earned praise from Best, who hailed it as "undoubtedly the most exciting debut" he had ever seen. Ronaldo scored his first goal for the club from a free kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November.
On 15 May 2004, he scored the opening goal in a victory against Aston Villa, and received the first red card of his career. He finished his first season in England with a trophy, scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0 win over Millwall in the 2004 FA Cup Final.
At the start of the 2004–05 season, Ronaldo provided a goal and an assist against Aston Villa and scored twice against Arsenal. He won his second trophy in English football, the Football League Cup, after scoring the third goal in United's 4–0 final win over Wigan Athletic. During his third season in England, Ronaldo was involved in several incidents.
He clashed with his teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy, who took offence at Ronaldo's showboating style of play. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo was involved in an incident which resulted in his club teammate Wayne Rooney being sent off. Afterwards, Ronaldo publicly asked for a transfer, saying that United had not supported him during the incident.
United denied his request. Although his World Cup altercation with Rooney resulted in Ronaldo being booed throughout the 2006–07 season, he scored 20 league goals for the first time as United won the Premier League title.
2007–2009: Collective and individual success and Ballon d'Or
For the 2006–07 season, Ronaldo won the Player's Player, Fans' Player and Young Player of the Year awards from the Professional Footballers' Association, and the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award. He was named runner-up to Kaká for the 2007 Ballon d'Or, and finished third for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year award, behind Kaká and Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo scored his first hat-trick for United in a 6–0 win against Newcastle United on 12 January 2008. His 31 league goals in the season earned him the Premier League Golden Boot, and he became the first winger to win the European Golden Shoe. For the second consecutive season, he received the PFA Players' Player of the Year award and the FWA Footballer of the Year award.
On 21 May, United defeated Chelsea in the Champions League final in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw, with Ronaldo scoring his team's only goal. As the Champions League top scorer, Ronaldo was named the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo became United's first Ballon d'Or winner since George Best in 1968, and the first Premier League player to be named the FIFA World Player of the Year.
Shortly after, United alleged that Real Madrid was pursuing Ronaldo, and filed a tampering complaint with FIFA. The governing body declined to take action against Madrid, and Ronaldo remained at United for another year. In the 2009 Champions League, his match-winning goal against Porto earned him the inaugural FIFA Puskás Award, which recognises the best goal of the year.
Real Madrid
2009–2015: World record transfer and consecutive Ballon d'Or wins
In 2009, Ronaldo transferred to Real Madrid for £80 million, a world record transfer fee at the time. He was unveiled in front of 80,000 fans at the Santiago Bernabéu, and said that playing for Real Madrid had been his childhood dream. He made his La Liga debut against Deportivo La Coruña on 29 August, scoring once in a 3–2 win.
He became the first Madrid player to scored in each of his first four league games. He scored his first two Champions League goals for the club in September, in the first group match against Zürich. In October, he suffered an ankle injury while on international duty, which kept him sidelined for seven weeks. He finished the season with 33 goals across all competitions.
Following Raúl's departure from the club, Ronaldo was given the No. 7 shirt for the 2010–11 season. He scored 53 goals during the season and earned his first trophy in Spain as Madrid won the Copa del Rey. He became the first player to score 40 goals in a La Liga season. In addition to the Pichichi Trophy, Ronaldo won the European Golden Shoe for a second time, becoming the first player to win the award in different leagues.
During the 2011–12 season, Ronaldo scored 60 goals across all competitions and led Madrid to their first league title in four years with a record 100 points. He finished runner-up for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or behind Lionel Messi. He scored his 100th league goal for Madrid in a 5–1 win over Real Sociedad on 24 March 2012, breaking the previous club record held by Ferenc Puskás.
In the 2012–13 season, Ronaldo scored his first hat-trick in the Champions League in a 4–1 win over Ajax. Ronaldo finished second in voting for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or, again behind Messi. On 6 January, he captained Madrid for the first time in an official match, scoring twice in a 4–3 win over Sociedad.
During the 2013–14 season, Madrid's attacking trio of Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema was popularly dubbed "BBC" (an acronym of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano). Ronaldo scored 69 goals in 2013, winning the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or. In 2014, he helped Madrid win their tenth UEFA Champions League title, scoring once in their 4–1 final win over Atlético Madrid.
As the competition's top goalscorer for the third time, with a record 17 goals, he was named the UEFA Best Player in Europe. He scored 31 goals in 30 league games during the season, which earned him the European Golden Shoe (shared with Luis Suárez) and the Pichichi Trophy. On 4 May, he scored a back-heeled volley in the closing moments of a match against Valencia, which was voted the goal of the season by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), earning him the Best Player in La Liga award.
During the 2014–15 season, Ronaldo set a new personal best of 61 goals. After winning the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, Ronaldo received the 2014 Ballon d'Or. He finished as top scorer in the Champions League for a third consecutive season, with 10 goals (tied with Messi and Neymar). On 5 April, he scored five goals in a game for the first time in his career, including an eight-minute hat-trick, in a 9–1 win over Granada.
His 300th goal for Madrid followed three days later in a 2–0 win against Rayo Vallecano. He finished the season with 48 league goals, winning a second consecutive Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe for a record fourth time.
2015–2018: All-time Champions League and Real Madrid top scorer and fifth Ballon d'Or
Ronaldo became Real Madrid's all-time top scorer on 12 September 2015 against Espanyol, his 230 goals surpassing the total of the previous record holder, Raúl. He also became the all-time top scorer in the Champions League with a hat-trick in the first group match against Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2015–16 competition.
Two goals against Malmö FF in a 2–0 win on 30 September saw him reach 500 career goals for club and country. In the Champions League final, Ronaldo scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot-out against city rivals Atlético Madrid, winning his third Champions League title. He won the 2016 Ballon d'Or and the inaugural Best FIFA Men's Player.
In the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Bayern Munich in April 2017, Ronaldo scored both goals in a 2–1 win which saw him become the first player to reach 100 goals in UEFA club competition. On 17 May, he scored twice against Celta de Vigo to surpass Jimmy Greaves as the all-time top scorer in the top five European leagues.
He finished the season with 42 goals in all competitions and helped Madrid win the La Liga title. In the 2017 Champions League final, Ronaldo scored two goals in a 4–1 victory over Juventus to bring him to 12 goals for the season, making him the competition's top goalscorer for the fifth straight season.
