Early career
At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur team
Andorinha, where his father was the
kit man. In 1995, 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.
Sporting CP
Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the
Academia Sporting, the club's football academy, in
Alcochete. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season.
He scored two goals in his league debut on 7 October 2002, which Sporting CP won 3–0 against
Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the
2002 European Under-17 Championship.
When he was 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a
racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital. While there, 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.
He was first spotted by then-
Liverpool manager
Gérard Houllier at the age of 16, but Liverpool declined to take him on because they decided he was too young and needed some time to develop his skills.
However, he came to the attention of
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the inauguration of the
Estádio José Alvalade in
Lisbon. Ronaldo's performance impressed the Manchester United players, who urged Ferguson to sign him.
Manchester United
2003–2006
Ronaldo with Manchester United in April 2006
Ronaldo became
Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million
(£12.24 million) after the
2002–03 season.
He requested the number 28 (his number at Sporting), as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by players such as
George Best,
Bryan Robson,
Eric Cantona, and
David Beckham. "After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."
Ronaldo made his team debut as a 60th-minute substitute in a 4–0 home victory over
Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3–0 win over
Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. Ronaldo ended his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3-0
FA Cup final victory over
Millwall.
He scored United's 1000th Premier League goal on 29 October 2005 in a 4–1 loss to
Middlesbrough.
He scored ten goals in all competitions, and fans voted him to his first
FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award in 2005.
Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football in the
2005–06 season, scoring the third goal in Manchester United's 4-0
Football League Cup final victory over
Wigan Athletic.
2006–2009
Ronaldo with United during their 2006–2007 season.
The
2006-2007 season proved to be the breakout year for Ronaldo, as he broke the 20 goal barrier for the first time and picked up his first
league title with Manchester United.
In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive
Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so after
Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and
Robbie Fowler in 1996.
He scored his 50th Manchester United goal against city rivals
Manchester City on 5 May 2007 as United claimed their first Premier League title in four years, and he was voted into his second consecutive FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award at the end of the year.
Despite rumours circulating in March 2007 that
Real Madrid were willing to pay an unprecedented €80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo,
he signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week (£31 million total) extension with United on 13 April, making him the highest-paid player in team history.
Ronaldo amassed a host of personal awards for the season. He won the
PFA Players' Player of the Year and
PFA Young Player of the Year awards, joining
Andy Gray (in
1977) as the only players to receive this honour.
In April, he completed the treble by winning the
PFA Fans' Player of the Year. Ronaldo was also one of eight Manchester United players named in the 2006–07
PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
Ronaldo's
2007–08 season began with a
red card for a headbutt on
Portsmouth player
Richard Hughes during United's second match of the season, for which he was punished with a three-match ban.
Ronaldo said he had "learned a lot" from the experience and would not let players "provoke" him in the future.
After scoring the only goal in a Champions League away match against Sporting, Ronaldo also scored the injury-time winner in the return fixture as Manchester United topped their Champions League group.
He finished as the runner-up to
Kaká for the 2007
Ballon d'Or,
and was third in the running for the
FIFA World Player of the Year award, behind Kaká and
Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo scored his first
hat trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against
Newcastle United at
Old Trafford on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League table.
He scored his twenty-third league goal of the season in a 2–0 win against
Reading, equalling his entire total for the 2006–07 season.
During a 1–1 Champions League first knockout round draw against
Lyon on 20 February, an unidentified Lyon supporter continuously aimed a green laser at Ronaldo and United teammate
Nani, prompting an investigation by UEFA.
One month later, Lyon were fined
CHF5,000 (£2,427) for the incident.
On 19 March 2008, Ronaldo captained United for the first time in his career in a home win over Bolton, scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory.
The second of the goals was his 33rd of the campaign, which set a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best's forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967–68 season.
Ronaldo scored another brace in a 4–0 win over
Aston Villa on 29 March, which at the time gave him 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches as both a starter and substitute. Ronaldo's scoring streak was rewarded with his becoming the first winger to win the 2007–08
European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of
Mallorca's
Dani Güiza.
In the
2007–08 Champions League final on 21 May against league rivals
Chelsea, Ronaldo scored the opening goal after 26 minutes, which was negated by a Chelsea equaliser in the 45th minute as the match ended 1–1 after extra time. His misfire in the penalty shoot-out put Chelsea in position to win the trophy, but
John Terry shot wide right after slipping on the pitch surface, and Manchester United emerged victorious 6–5 on penalties. Ronaldo was named the UEFA Fans' Man of the Match,
and wrapped up the campaign with a career-high 42 goals in all competitions, falling four short of
Denis Law's team-record mark of 46 in the 1963–64 season.
On 5 June 2008,
Sky Sports reported that Ronaldo had expressed an interest in moving to Real Madrid if they offered him the same amount of money the team had allegedly promised him earlier in the year.
Manchester United filed a tampering complaint with
FIFA on 9 June over Madrid's alleged pursuit of Ronaldo, but FIFA declined to take any action.
Speculation that a transfer would happen continued until 6 August, when Ronaldo confirmed that he would stay at United for at least another year.
Ronaldo underwent ankle surgery at the
Academic Medical Center in
Amsterdam on 7 July.
He returned to action on 17 September in United's
UEFA Champions League goalless group-stage draw with
Villarreal as a substitute for
Park Ji-Sung,
and scored his first overall goal of the season in a 3–1
League Cup third round win over Middlesbrough on 24 September.
In a 5–0 win over
Stoke City on 15 November 2008, Ronaldo scored his 100th and 101st goals in all competitions for Manchester United, both from free kicks.
The goals also meant that Ronaldo had now scored against each of the other 19 teams in the Premier League at the time.
On 2 December, Ronaldo became Manchester United's first
Ballon d'Or recipient since
George Best in
1968. He finished with 446 points, 165 ahead of runner-up
Lionel Messi.
He was awarded the Silver Ball after finishing with two goals as United won the
Club World Cup on 19 December.
On 8 January 2009, Ronaldo was uninjured in a single-car accident in which he
wrote off his
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in a tunnel along the
A538 near
Manchester Airport. A
breathalyser test he gave to police officers at the scene was negative, and he attended training later that morning.
Four days later, he became the first Premier League player ever to be named the
FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to being the first Portuguese player to win the award since
Luís Figo in 2001.
Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal of the season, and first since the final against Chelsea, in a 2–0 victory over
Internazionale that sent United into the quarter-finals.
In the second leg against
Porto, Ronaldo scored a 40-yard game-winning goal as United advanced to the semi-finals. He later called it the best goal he had ever scored.
Ronaldo participated in his second consecutive
Champions League final, but made little impact in United's 2–0 loss to Barcelona. He finished with 53 appearances in all competitions, which was four higher than the previous year, but scored sixteen fewer goals (26) than his career-best total of 42 from the previous season.
On 11 June, Manchester United accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had expressed his desire to leave the club.
It was confirmed by a representative of the Glazer family that the sale was fully condoned by Ferguson.
When Ronaldo had eventually completed his transfer to Real, he expressed his gratitude towards Ferguson for helping him develop as a player, saying, "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important factors and most influential in my career."
Real Madrid
2009–10 season
On 26 June 2009,
Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million,
after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract.
Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year
and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause.
He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July,
where he was handed the number 9 jersey.
The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend
Alfredo di Stéfano.
Ronaldo was welcomed by 80,000 fans at his presentation at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, surpassing
Diego Maradona's record of 75,000 fans when he was presented in Italy, after he was transferred from
Barcelona to
Napoli in 1984.
Ronaldo made his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1–0 win over
Shamrock Rovers. His first goal came one week later with a penalty in Madrid's 4–2
LDU Quito.
On 29 August, Ronaldo capped his
La Liga debut with a goal, scoring Real's second from the penalty spot in a 3–2 home win against
Deportivo La Coruña.
On 15 September, Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5-2 away victory over
Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real.
He broke a Madrid club record when he scored in a league match against
Villarreal and thus became the first ever player to score in his first four La Liga appearances.
An ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while Ronaldo was on international duty with
Portugal against
Hungary,
kept him out until 25 November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions League group stage matches against
Milan. Ronaldo made his first post-injury start in a 1–0
El Clásico defeat to
Barcelona on 29 November. On 6 December, he was sent off for the first time in his Madrid career in Madrid's 4–2 victory against
Almería, a match which also saw him miss a penalty. He was carded first for removing his shirt during a goal celebration, then for kicking out at an opponent three minutes later.
Ronaldo and
Gonzalo Higuaín scored 53 league goals during the course of the season and became Real's highest scoring league duo in their history.
2010–11 season
With the departure of
Raúl during the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed the number 7 jersey.
On 23 October 2010, Ronaldo scored four goals against
Racing Santander,
the most goals he has ever scored in a single match.
This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches (3 La Liga, 1 Champions League, 2 international) in which Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling eleven goals, which is the most Ronaldo has scored in a single month.
His final match of the year saw him score a hat-trick on a 8-0 trashing of
Levante in the
Copa del Rey.
Ronaldo began the 2011 with a very promising outlook, specially since
Real Madrid acknowledge him to have broken many goalscoring records, previously settled and held by classic players such as
Di Stéfano,
Hugo Sánchez or
Alday.
His year took-off by scoring two vital goals on a tight 3-2 victory over
Getafe.
He then consolidated his massive performance by scoring a hat-trick and assisting
Kaká to score his first league goal after his return from injury, on a 4-2 victory over
Villareal on January 9. One game away from the middle of the season, Ronaldo held very clear perspectives of breaking
Telmo Zarra and
Hugo Sánchez's record of 38 League goals in a single season, since he was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, above
Lionel Messi.
