Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, (Born 5th February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Juventus and is also the captain of the Portuguese national football team. He is often considered the best player in the world and regarded as one of the best players of all time. CR7 has won five Ballon d’Or awards, and four European Golden shoes, both of which are records for a European player. He has won 30 major trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions leagues and a UEFA Nations League title. Unbelievable. He even holds the world record for the most goals and assists in the champions league. Fun fact, Ronaldo currently holds the world record for the most Instagram followers. He also just recently beat the world record held by Pele for the most goals scored in a football career! Here’s how Cristiano Ronaldo has gone from zero to hero.
It all started in his hometown Madeira. His Father was a gardener, while his mother was a cook. Ronaldo was the youngest child among his 3 other siblings. He has an elder brother, Hugo and two older sisters, Elma, and Liliana. Cristiano’s family was not the richest, but his father and mother were working daily to get him and his siblings to school daily. Ronaldo went to school every day, but he was never interested in studying. He was more concerned about joining his father to watch Andorinha Football club play. This was where CR7’s father took up a second job as a kit man. Ronaldo’s care for school got lower as he grew up. He would never do his homework, but rather indulge in his fast-growing passion for football. Despite the lack of money his family had, he managed to convince his father to sign him at Andorinha football academy at the age of 8. To keep a close watch over him, his dad decided to make his second job as a kit man his full-time job at the academy. Cristiano’s coach recalls that Ronaldo was a very emotionally fragile player while he was at Andorinha FC. He said: “Ronaldo really enjoyed winning. When that did not happen, he would cry. He cried so much that he got the nickname crybaby.”
After spending two years with Andorinha FC, CR7 went on to have a trial with Nacional, another academy on the island of Madeira. While playing there, people observed that he had a special talent. This was evident in the trophies and honors he won for them. With a goal to improve his footballing skills and save his parents from poverty, Cristiano made the biggest decision of his youth. He left his family in Madeira for Lisbon at the age of 12. That year (1997), Ronnie went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, who signed him for a fee of 1,500£ after he passed their trials. Leaving his parents and family members was not an easy decision as he cried every day. In fact, this was the second time Ronaldo lived up to his childhood nickname “Cry Baby”. Despite the loneliness and sadness, he preserved and continued working hard.
By the age of 14, Ronaldo began to have that insane mentality to push himself in while playing football, and as time went on, he began disliking the idea of mixing education with football. In his quest to focus entirely on the game, Ron came to terms with his mother to drop out of school. Having excessive speed as a child gave his stressed body strong emotional response, including anxiety. Unfortunately, it led to Cristiano having a racing heart disease. This health complication nearly forced him to give up football. In response to his failing heart, Sporting CP medical staff asked for approval from Cristiano’s parents to have a surgery on him. They agreed, and to the joy of them, a laser was used to enhance his cardiac pathways. This made blood circulation in his heart go back to normal. Thankfully, football continued after doctors cleared him from the hospital. At age 16, CR7 decided to transform himself. He became overly ambitious because of constant training time. Because of that, Sporting’s first team manager Laszlo Bolani offered him a pre-season opportunity for the senior squad. In 2003, CR7 got the chance to meet destiny. That day, Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United (one of the biggest teams in the world) had a pre-season and Sporting manager Laszlo Boloni selected Ronaldo to play. His brilliance helped Sporting beat United 3-1. After the match, ex-United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed by Ronaldo’s performance, so eventually, Cristiano joined United for a fee of 12.24 million which made him the most expensive teenager in English football history.
Later on, things only went upwards. He won tons of trophies with United and became one of their main wingers and eventually, he was noticed by bigger teams like Real Madrid. He then joined them for a world record fee at the time for £80 million. He started winning Ballon Dor’s all the time, and constantly scoring goals. Eventually, he became one of the most known players in the world, and he has a loving wife and four children supporting him. CR7 is an inspirational person. As a youngster he was nicknamed crybaby, but now he is considered one of the greatest players in history. Today, CR7 is not just one the greatest players, but also one of the richest people in the world! He had a rough childhood, but like a hero he managed to go through it and look at his success today.