Portuguese football player

Alternative title: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

Cristiano RonaldoPortuguese football player

Cristiano Ronaldo, in full Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (born February 5, 1985, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal) Portuguese football (soccer) forward who was one of the greatest players of his generation.
Ronaldo’s father, José Dinis Aveiro, was the equipment manager for the local club Andorinha. (The name Ronaldo was added to Cristiano’s name in honour of his father’s favourite movie actor, Ronald Reagan, who was U.S. president at the time of Cristiano’s birth.) At age 15 Ronaldo was diagnosed with a heart condition that necessitated surgery, but he was sidelined only briefly and made a full recovery. 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.
After a successful season with Sporting that brought the young player to the attention of Europe’s biggest football clubs, Ronaldo signed with English powerhouse Manchester United in 2003. 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 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year honours 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—a club with which he had long been rumoured to want to play—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.
On his home soil, after moving through the youth and under-21 ranks, Ronaldo had made his first appearance for Portugal’s full national team against Kazakhstan in August 2003 (four days after his debut for United). He was a key player in Portugal’s fourth-place finish at the 2006 World Cup and became the full-time captain of the national team in 2008. In 2012 his stellar play led Portugal to the semifinals of the European Championship, where his team was eliminated by rival Spain in a match that was decided by a penalty kick shoot-out. Ronaldo came into the 2014 World Cup hot off of his second world player of the year win, but his play at the tournament was spotty, and the entire Portugal team struggled during a group-stage elimination. In 2016 he helped Portugal win the European Championship, the country’s first major international tournament title, although he only played sparingly in the final because of a knee injury that he had sustained early in the match.

Ballon d’Or 2015: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar shortlisted for prize

The Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Neymar will be up against Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the vote to be named the Ballon d’Or 2015 winner.

Ronaldo has won the world’s top player award for the last two years after ending Messi’s four-year winning streak, while Neymar makes the shortlist for the first time. The winner will be announced at a gala in Zurich on 11 January when a series of other awards are handed out.

Messi is the odds-on favourite to win his fifth Ballon d’Or and Ronaldo feels there is no reason to expect an upset. “To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes,” the Portugal international said earlier this month. “You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes. It is difficult and to be honest I am not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never thought I would win three times to be honest.”

Neymar scored twice as Barcelona beat Real Sociedad on Saturday, and afterwards spoke of his pride at being included among the contenders. “I have never played football to be the best player in the world, or to win the Ballon d’Or,” said the Brazil forward. “I’ve always just played with the idea of continually getting better, to always surpass my goals, to always be better, play better, train better. To be the best in the world is the direct result of all of this work. If today I am being spoken of in such terms, it is a clear sign that what I am doing is working.”

The men’s world coach of the year shortlist features Chile’s Copa América winner Jorge Sampaoli, alongside Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and Barcelona’s Luis Enrique.

The women’s world player of the year shortlist is headed by the American World Cup winner Carli Lloyd, Aya Miyama (Japan) and Celia Sasic (Germany). England’s Mark Sampson makes the women’s football coach of the year shortlist, alongside Jill Ellis (US) and Norio Sasak (Japan).

Three finalists for the Puskás Award have also been announced, with Fleetwood Town’s David Ball missing out. The shortlist is: Alessandro Florenzi for Roma against Barcelona in September, Wendell Lira for Atlético GO v Goianesia in March, and Messi for Barça v Athletic Bilbao in May’s Copa del Rey final.