Cristiano Ronaldo is a professional soccer player who
has set records while playing for both Manchester
United and Real Madrid.
1. His full name is Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos
Aveiro, but he goes by Cristiano Ronaldo.
2. Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985 in Madeira,
Portugal.
3. He got the name "Ronaldo" after then-U.S.
president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's
favourite actor.
Source: Wikipedia
4. He is the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos
Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a
municipal gardener. He has one older brother,
Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.
5. He grew up poor and said he shared a bedroom
with his siblings.
6. At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur
team Andorinha, where his father was the kit man.
7. Ronaldo was nicknamed "cry-baby" as a child. His
mother Dolores Aveiro said: "When he got home
from school I'd tell him to do homework but he'd
say he didn't have any. I'd be making dinner and he
would jump out of the window and run off until late.
He used to cry when he passed and his friends
didn't score. People called him 'cry-baby' and 'little
bee' because nobody could catch him."
8. Ronaldo was popular with other students at school,
but he was expelled at the age of 14 after he threw
a chair at his teacher. Ronaldo said the reason he
did it was because the teacher disrespected him.
Despite it being a negative thing, it turned into a
great turning point in his life. His mother then
encouraged him to focus all his attention on soccer
which he did and turned him into an international
sensation.
9. Ronaldo signed with local club Nacional, and, after
a title-winning campaign, he went on a three-day
trial with Sporting CP, who subsequently signed
him for an undisclosed sum. Paulo Cardoso, his
first coach at Sporting Lisbon, said: "When he got
the ball he went past two or three players. At the
end of the game the players gathered around him,
they knew he was a special kid."
10. As a teenager, he would be in the gym training
using weights on either foot, and then dribbling
with the ball. Ronaldo thought training with weights
would improve his game techniques because
without weights, he would be even faster.
11. At the age of 15 Ronaldo was diagnosed with a
racing heart, a condition that might have forced
him to give up playing football. He had an operation
in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of
his heart that was causing the problem. The
surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was
discharged from hospital by the end of the
afternoon; he resumed training only a few days
later.
12. Cristiano admits that he owes his lucky break to
one of his closest friends,Albert Fantrau. "I have to
thank my friend Albert for my success. We played
together for a youth club. When people from
Sporting (Lisbon) arrived, they told us that whoever
scored more goals would be accepted to their
Academy. We won that game 3-0, I scored the first
goal, the Albert scored a header, and the third was
a goal that impressed everyone. Albert went to one
on one with the goalkeeper. I was running next to
him, he went round the keeper, all he needed to do
was just to get the ball into the empty net. But, he
passed it to me and I scored. I was accepted to the
Academy. After the match, I approached him and
asked him "why" and he answered; "You're better
than me". Several years later, the journalist went to
Albert's house and asked whether the story was
true. He confirmed. He also said that his career as
a football player finished after that match and he is
now unemployed. "But where did you get such a
gorgeous house, a car? You seemed to be a rich
person. You also maintain your family ... .. Where
is all this from?." Albert proudly replied; it's from
Cristiano.
Source: Tumblr / ladethima
13. His first professional game for Sporting Lisbon
came when he play in the "Portuguese Super
League" match at the age of 17 and that was the
start of a journey which will make him one of the
greatest players ever.
14. Manchester United paid £12 million to sign him in
2003-a record fee for a player of his age.
15. Sir Alex Ferguson had no hesitation in handing
Ronaldo the No 7 shirt. He said: "We've had some
fantastic No 7s, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David
Beckham, some wouldn't want that jersey but his
confidence was high even at 18. When he made his
debut as substitute against Bolton he took the place
by storm."
16. Ronaldo, however, did not disappoint. He showed
his promise early on in the 2004 FA Cup final,
scoring the team's first three goals and helping
them capture the championship.
17. In 2006, Ronaldo opened a fashion boutique under
the name "CR7" (his initials and shirt number) on
the island of Madeira, Portugal. Ronaldo expanded
his business with a second clothes boutique in
Lisbon in 2008. The stores include diamond-
studded belts, jeans with leather pockets and
patented buckled loafers.
18. Ronaldo faced personal challenges in 2007 after
his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
19. In 2008, a year after signing a five-year, £31 million
contract, Ronaldo set a franchise record for goals
scored (42), and earning himself the FIFA World of
the Year honor.
20. His commitment to Manchester United was under
question and in 2009, Spanish soccer club Real
Madrid agreed to pay United a record $131 million
for the chance to sign him. "I know that they are
going to demand a lot of me to be successful at the
club and I know that I'm going to have much more
pressure than at Manchester United because I was
there for many years," Ronaldo told reporters. "But
it means a new challenge and is going to help me
be the best footballer."
Source: Tumblr / fyeahreal
21. On June 15, 2010, in Portugal's opening World Cup
match against Côte d'Ivoire, Ronaldo was tackled
by right-back Guy Demel, which led to an argument
and both being booked. The next day, Portugal
contacted FIFA to suggest that Ronaldo's yellow
card be rescinded since he was "pulled into" the
confrontation after having already moved away
from the spot where he was tackled, but the appeal
was rejected.
22. Ronaldo announced that he had become a father on
July 3, 2010. His official Facebook and Twitter
pages reference the birth of his son and request
privacy. The child, named Cristiano is in full
custody of Ronaldo. The mother is a waitress that
he once dated for a short time and the sons name
is Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.
23. In June 2010, during the build-up to the World Cup,
Ronaldo became the fourth footballer - after Steven
Gerrard, Pelé and David Beckham - to be
represented as a waxwork at Madame Tussauds
London
24. Ronaldo has previously dated English models Alice
Goodwin and Gemma Atkinson, and since the start
of 2010, he has been dating Russian model Irina
Shayk.
25. He is a devout Roman Catholic.
26. Ronaldo's autobiography, titled Moments , was
published in December 2007.
27. There is a museum named Museu CR7 in his
hometown Funchal, Portugal, dedicated to him
which contains his trophies, rare photographs,
medals and lots more related to the player.
28. In December 2011, Cristiano launched an iPhone
game called Heads Up with Cristiano. The game is
created by developer RockLive.
29. In July 2012, computer security company McAfee
produced a report ranking footballers by the
probability of an internet search for their name
leading to an unsafe website. Ronaldo's name led
the list
30. He is also philanthropic at heart. In November
2012, Ronaldo sold the golden boot he had won in
2011 for €1.5 million and gave the money to fund
schools for children in Gaza. In December 2012,
Ronaldo joined FIFA's '11 for Health' programme to
raise awareness amongst kids of how to steer
clear of conditions including drug addiction, HIV,
malaria and obesity.
31. Despite being a great player, there are many people
who don't like him for his personality as he can
appear a bit arrogant at times. In 2011, the legions
of fans who dislike Ronaldo were justified when
Ronaldo publicly proclaimed that people didn't like
him because he was too rich, handsome, and
talented.
32. Cristiano Ronaldo is fast, really fast. He recently
defeated a Spanish sprinter Angel David Rodriguez
in the zigzag spring challenge by half a minute
while he narrowly lost against professional sprinter
in straight line.
33. When Ronaldo jumps, he generates 5G of G-force
on take-off - this is five times the power of a
cheetah in full flight. This enables him to reach
heights of 44cm in the air from a standing start and
78cm with a run-up - 7cm more than the average
NBA player.
34. Ronaldo will sprint 900 times more in a season than
an Olympic sprinter.
35. Cristiano Ronaldo's body fat is about 10 percent
which makes him the perfect machine for fast
sprinting and athletic courses.
36. His free kick speed is about 13.1 kmph, which is
compared roughly with the speed of a space shuttle
while launching.
37. Ronaldo lifts around 23,055 kg of weight during a
training session, which is a total of 16 Toyota Prius
cars. The guy just continues to amaze us.
38. He is 6' 1" (1.85 m) tall.
39. Ronaldo weighs an average of 176 lbs (80 kg).
40. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he thinks Ronaldo
is one of the fittest athletes in the world.
41. Ronaldo's father, Jose Dinis Aveiro, passed away
at the age of 52 due to alcoholism. As a result,
Ronaldo does not drink alcohol because drinking it
reminds him of the death of his father. Ronaldo
would offer ask him to go to rehab and address his
alcohol addiction, but he always refused.
42. Ronaldo also does not smoke nor does he have any
tattoos on his body which he chose not to get any
because he regularly donates blood.
43. In October 2005, a month after his father died,
Ronaldo was arrested on suspicion of raping a
woman in a London hotel and released on bail.
Ronaldo denied the allegations and charges were
dropped by Scotland Yard in November 2005 due to
"insufficient evidence". Ronaldo issued a statement
saying: "I have always strongly maintained my
innocence of any wrong-doing and I am glad that
this matter is at an end so that I can concentrate
on playing for Manchester United.
44. In May 2014, Forbes ranked Ronaldo first in their
list of the world's highest paid players, with
earnings of $73 million in combined income from
salaries, bonuses and off-field earnings for the
previous 12 months.
45. He earns a lot of this from product endorsements
and sponsorships. Some of the products that is a
spokesmodel for include Emporio Armani men's
underwear and jeans, and Nike. He has also signed
other sponsorships from Coca-Cola, Castrol,
Konami, Banco Espirito Santo, Motorola, Jacob &
Co., Herbalife, KFC, Tag Heuer and Fly Emirates.
46. In addition to his FIFA World Player of the year
award, Ronaldo has also won the coveted Ballon
d'OR, the Golden Boot, and been named the UEFA
Club Forward of the Year, among other honors
during the course of his career.
47. Cristiano Ronaldo's net worth is $250 million.
48. If any club wants Cristiano Ronaldo to play for
them, they would have to pay $1 billion.
49. Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the
two best players in the world within his generation
(the other being Lionel Messi), Cristiano Ronaldo
plays an attacking role, most often playing as either
a striker or as a winger, and is known for his
finishing, pace, dribbling, positioning, crossing and
free kick ability.
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