Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is a professional soccer player who has set records while playing for both Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Born on February 5, 1985, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese soccer player with Manchester United. By 2003 — when he was just 16 years old — Manchester paid £12 million (over $14 million U.S. dollars) to sign him, a record fee for a player of his age. In the 2004 FA Cup final, Ronaldo scored Manchester's first three goals and helped them capture the championship. In 2008, he set a franchise record for goals scored. In 2009, Real Madrid paid a record $131 million for his services.

By the time he was 10 years old, Ronaldo was already recognized as a phenomenon — a kid who ate, slept and drank soccer. "All he wanted to do as a boy was play football," his godfather, Fernao Sousa, recalled for British reporters, adding, "He loved the game so much he'd miss meals or escape out of his bedroom window with a ball when he was supposed to be doing his homework."

By his early teens, Ronaldo's talent and legend had grown considerably. After a stint with Nacional da liha da Madeira, he signed with Sporting Portugal in 2001.

On July 10, 2016, Ronaldo added an emotional victory to his collection. As his national team's captain, Ronaldo led Portugal to the European Championship final against France. Although he was sidelined after suffering a knee injury 25 minutes into the match, Portugal went on to win the championship title 1-0, their first international trophy. Ronaldo's teammates said that he motivated them as team captain from the sidelines. "He gave us a lot of confidence and he said, 'Listen people, I'm sure we will win this Euro so stay together and fight for it,’” full-back Cedric Soares said after Portugal’s victory.

"This is one of the happiest moments in my career,” Ronaldo commented. ”I’ve always said I wanted to win a trophy with the national team and make history. And I did it. Thank God, things went well for us."

Ronaldo was one of the most well-known sports stars off the field, and numerous studies of athletes’ popularity showed that he was the most-beloved athlete in the world during his playing peak. His extreme popularity made Ronaldo one of the highest-paid endorsers in sports history, and in November 2016 he became the third person (after basketball superstars Micheal Jo and LeBron James) to earn a “lifetime” contract from the sportswear company Nike. 

Moreover, he established his own successful “CR7” brand of products that included shoes, underwear, and fragrances. Ronaldo’s immense marketability was at the centre of a legal issue that arose in June 2017. That month prosecutors filed a lawsuit that accused Ronaldo of defrauding the Spanish government of €14.7 million ($16.5 million) by hiding his image-rights income in Spain from 2011 to 2014. He was accused of having underestimated the income he earned from the sale and licensing of his image rights and the accompanying tax obligations, but Ronaldo denied all allegations.

According to Forbes, Cristiano Ronaldo took home $93 million in 2017, $58 million of which was salary and bonus paid by Real Madrid. Ronaldo’s earnings made him the highest-paid soccer player for the fourth year in a row and the highest-paid professional athlete of 2017. According to Celebrity Net Worth, as of 2017 Ronaldo’s net worth is an estimated $400 million.