| Cristiano Ronaldo, was born on 5 February 1985 in | | | | Manchester United 3-1 in Lisbon. |
| San Antonia, Madeira. He is a Portuguese soccer | | | | Cristiano Ronaldo became the first ever Portugese |
| player who plays in the winger position and is known | | | | player in the Manchester United team. He was signed |
| for his ability to score goals using both his right and | | | | on after the 2002-03 season for £12.24 million |
| left foot. Cristiano Ronaldo holds another distinction | | | | and he scored his first goal as a United player against |
| and that is of being the most expensive player in | | | | Portsmouth in November 2003. He was also |
| soccer history. He was transferred from Manchester | | | | responsible for scoring the 1000th premier league goal |
| United to Real Madrid for £80 million (US$132m | | | | for Manchester United in October 2005 against |
| EUR94m). | | | | Middlesbrough. In 2005, Ronaldo was voted as the |
| Cristiano Ronaldo started playing soccer at the age | | | | FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year. |
| of eight and started off with an amateur team called | | | | Cristiano Ronaldo earned his first Portugal team cap |
| Andorinha. He signed up with a local club called | | | | against Kazakhstan in August 2003 as they went on |
| Nacional in 1995 and went on to win the title. | | | | to win the match 1-0. He made it to the Euro 2004 in |
| Following this, he joined a 3-day soccer trial with | | | | spite of their loss to Greece in the finals. Ronaldo |
| Sporting Clube de Portugal and was later signed on | | | | was able to score only 2 goals in the Euro 2004 |
| for an undisclosed sum. Cristiano Ronaldo went on to | | | | championship. The same year, he went on to |
| join other youth players of Sporting who he had | | | | represent Portugal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and |
| trained with at the Alcochete at Sproting's football | | | | was considered to be the second-highest scorer in |
| academy. Ronaldo achieved the distinction of being | | | | the FIFA World Cup qualification stage of the |
| the only Sporting player to have played for the U-16, | | | | European zone. |
| U-17, U-18, B-team, and first team of the club in the | | | | In the 2006-07 season, Ronaldo won consecutive |
| same season. He ended up scoring two goals on his | | | | "Barclays Player of the Month" award and thus |
| debut with Sporting against Moreirense during the | | | | became the third player in Premier League |
| UEFA Under-17 Championships. | | | | Championship history to have achieved it. In the |
| Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted at the age of 16 by | | | | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Cristiano |
| Ex-Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier but at | | | | Ronaldo scored eight goals for Portugal but finished |
| that time Liverpool declined because they felt he was | | | | the tournament with only one goal. In total, Ronaldo |
| too young. Later on in 2003, he caught the attention | | | | has appeared in 336 matches playing for Sporting CP, |
| of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson | | | | Manchester United, and Real Madrid and has scored |
| while playing for Sporting. Sporting defeated | | | | 136 goals. |