Italy's FIFA World Cup curse edit
Since Italy's successful 2006 FIFA World Cup run, they have been unable to reach the knockout stage, and have even failed to qualify for the tournament on multiple occasions. Despite Italy winning the tournament; defeating France in a penalty shootout, Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt in the final is thought to be the leading catalyst of this curse. Italy had a disastrous tournament in 2010 after finishing last place in a group with Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand, of which they were seen as clear favorites. While this was originally perceived to be a result of the European World Cup champions' curse (provided Italy won the previous event), lackluster results in future World Cups have refuted that case. In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Italy were one again knocked out of the group stage by Uruguay and dark horses Costa Rica, with only England below them. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, Italy finished second in their qualifying group, behind Spain, advancing them to the playoff round where they would lose 1-0 to Sweden on aggregate, and would consequently fail to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1958. Poor results in Italy's last two group matches of 2022 World Cup qualifying would see them once again take part in the playoffs, this time losing 1-0 against North Macedonia.This would the first time Italy had ever missed the competition twice consecutively. These results are only apparent in the FIFA World Cup and FIFA World Cup qualification, as Italy have excelled in other competitions, winning the UEFA European Championship in 2021 and finishing runners-up in UEFA Euro 2012, and qualifying for UEFA Nations League Finals in 2021 and 2023.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hungary
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 |  Scotland
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 |  Nigeria
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Peru
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 3 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Colombia
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 |  Norway
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 | |
| 3 |  Mali
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 |  Austria
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 2 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Czech Republic
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 |  Italy (H)
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 | |
| 3 |  Paraguay
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Algeria
|
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 1 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sweden
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 7 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 |  Ukraine
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 |  Turkey
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Chile
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 0 |
Bracket edit
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 19 June – Rome | ||||||||||
| Hungary | 0 | |||||||||
| 25 June – Rome | ||||||||||
| Norway | 2 | |||||||||
| Norway | 1 | |||||||||
| 20 June – Milan | ||||||||||
| Italy (a.e.t.) | 3 | |||||||||
| Sweden | 2 | |||||||||
| 29 June – Rome | ||||||||||
| Italy | 3 | |||||||||
| Italy (a.e.t.) | 3 | |||||||||
| 21 June – Turin | ||||||||||
| Czech Republic | 2 | |||||||||
| Colombia | 2 | |||||||||
| 26 June – Milan | ||||||||||
| Scotland | 0 | |||||||||
| Colombia | 1 | |||||||||
| 22 June – Naples | ||||||||||
| Czech Republic (a.e.t.) | 2 | Third place | ||||||||
| Czech Republic (p) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
| 28 June – Turin | ||||||||||
| Ukraine | 1 (3) | |||||||||
| Norway | 0 | |||||||||
| Colombia | 1 | |||||||||
 Brady with United States at the 2026 World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 5 February 1985[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Funchal, Madeira, Portugal[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[note 1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | F.C. Barcelona | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Atlanta United | 31 | (11) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Everton | 35 | (18) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2025 | Inter Milan | 85 | (56) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025–2027 | Manchester City | 94 | (48) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2027–2031 | Bayern Munich | 201 | (189) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2031–2032 | Tottenham Hotspur | 47 | (57) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2032–2033 | F.C. Barcelona | 34 | (22) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022– | United States | 79 | (49) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:44, 7 May 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:45, 9 June 2022 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- ^ a b c "Cristiano Ronaldo Fast Facts". CNN. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ Kay, Stanley (16 August 2017). "How Tall is Cristiano Ronaldo?". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ Caioli 2016, Facts and figures.
- ^ "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ – Players – Cristiano Ronaldo". FIFA. 16 August 2017. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ "Cristiano Ronaldo". Eurosport.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
FPFwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Regulations for UEFA Euro 2012" (PDF). UEFA. September 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).