Cristiano Ronaldo is a famous professional football player, who was born on February 5, 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
He was 18 when he represented the Portugal football team in his international debut match against Kazakhstan in August 2003. Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in the Euro 2004 tournament; one against Greece and the other against the Netherlands and participated in the Summer Olympics (2004). He helped his country to become the runner-up of the 2004 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Championship. For his commendable display of football skills, Cristiano Ronaldo received the U-21 European Footballer of the Year in 2004.
By scoring seven goals at the 2006 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup qualification games, Cristiano Ronaldo became the second-highest goal scorer in the European zone. In the 2006 World Cup, he performed well in a match against Iran and converted the penalty kick into a goal. His national team managed to secure the fourth place in the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament. On February 6, 2007, Cristiano Ronaldo was made the captain of the Portugal team in a friendly match against Brazil as per the wishes of the late president of Portuguese Football Federation, Carlos Silva. Owing to his good performances, Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year for two consecutive seasons, 2004-05 and 2005-06.
During the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2008 qualifying matches, Cristiano Ronaldo performed well and scored eight goals for his national team. He scored one goal in the Euro 2008 tournament; despite his tremendous efforts, Portugal did not qualify for the semi finals. The eight memorable goals netted by him at the UEFA 2007-08, fetched him the UEFA Champions’ League Most Valuable Player and the UEFA Club Forward of the Year in that season. As of 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 21 goals for the Portugal team from his 58 international caps.
He had a passion for playing football from an early age of three and began his youth club career at the age of eight with the amateur team of Clube de Futebol Andorinha in 1993. Cristiano Ronaldo then moved to the Clube Desportivo Nacional and improved his football skills during his stay (1995-1997) at the club. Impressed with his three-day trial at the Sporting Clube de Portugal (CP) in 1997, the club signed Cristiano Ronaldo and trained him at the Alcochete, the club’s football academy. Being a brilliant footballer, he owns the credit of being the only player to represent the Sporting CP’s U-16, U-17 U-18, B-team and first team within one season during his tenure with the club. He netted two goals in his senior debut for the Leões against Moreirense in the UEFA U-17 Championships. Cristiano Ronaldo helped the Leões to a 3-1 win against the Manchester United FC in the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade at Lisbon, 2003. His match-winning performance drew the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of the Red Devils, who signed him on August 12, 2003, for a fee of £12.24 million. Cristiano Ronaldo became the first Portuguese player to have joined the English Premier League side, the Manchester United FC, after the 2002-03 season.
Sporting the famous number 7 jersey, Cristiano Ronaldo made his Manchester United debut as a substitute against the Bolton Wanderers FC at Old Trafford. His good form helped the Red Devils’ team to win the Football Association (FA) Cup in 2003-04 and FA Cup runner-up in 2004-05. Owing to his amazing performances in the 2006-07 season, the Manchester United won the FA Premier League and became the FA Cup runner-up in that season. He earned the Paper Football Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Fans’ Player of the Year awards, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year in 2006-07. For his commendable performances, Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Barclays Player of the Season, Manchester United Players’ Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year (2006-08). He was part of the Red Devils’ squad, which went on a winning spree to clinch the FA Community Shield (2007), FA Premier League title and the UEFA Champions League title in 2007-08 season.
By scoring his first hat-trick for the Red Devils’ on January 12, 2008, in a 6-0 win against the Magpies, Cristiano Ronaldo moved his team to the top of the Premier League table. He captained the team and scored both the goals for Red Devils’ against Bolton Wanderers in its 2-0 win. With these two goals to his credit, he scored 33 goals in a season, thus breaking George Best’s forty-year-old total of 32 in 1967-68 season. Cristiano Ronaldo contributed a brace to Red Devils’ 4-0 win against Aston Villa, making him the first midfielder with 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches. For scoring 42 goals in the 2007-08 season, Cristiano Ronaldo bagged the European Golden Shoe and the Barclays Golden Boot in that season. As of 2008, he represented Manchester United in 165 matches and has 66 goals to his credit.
