Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays as a forward for Real Madrid and captains the Portuguese national team. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time and holds several goalscoring records at both club and international level. Ronaldo began his career in Portugal before moving to Manchester United and later Real Madrid, becoming the most expensive player in history. He has won numerous individual and team honors throughout his career including Ballon d'Or awards. For Portugal, Ronaldo has over 100 caps and helped lead them to the Euro 2004 final as well as Euro 2012 semi-finals.

1. 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 club Real Madrid and captains the Portuguese
national team. He became the most expensive footballer in history when he moved from Manchester
United to Real Madrid in 2009 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 Club de Portugal. Ronaldo caught
the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15
million) in 2003. In 2004, Ronaldo won his first club honor, 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 FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFA Pro Player of the
Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or. 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 by some to be the best footballer in today's game and 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 goal scorer 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, George Best, Steve
Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. 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.