Here is a look at the life of professional football player Cristiano Ronaldo.
Personal
Date of birth: February 5, 1985
Birthplace: Funchal, Portugal
Birth name: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Father: Jose Dinis Aveiro, gardener
Mother: Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, cookChildren: with Georgina Rodriguez: Alana Martina, 2017; Bella Esmeralda and male twin (name not released, died at birth), 2022; via surrogate mother: Eva and Mateo (twins), 2017; with mother’s name not publicly available: Cristiano Jr., 2010
Other facts
Leading male goal scorer of all time in international football.
First male player in history to score in five different World Cups.
Portugal’s all-time leading international goal scorer.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017) and four-time Golden Boot winner (2007-08, 2010-11, 2013-14 and 2014-15).
One of his charitable deeds was to cover the cost of brain surgery for a 10-month-old boy. He also raised money for the survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and paid for the treatment of a 9-year-old cancer patient.
His father named him after U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Timeline
Early 1990s – Joined local amateur team Andorinha.
Late 1990s – Joined Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira, one of Portugal’s leading professional football clubs.
Early 2000s – signs with Sporting Clube de Portugal.
August 2003 – Signs with Manchester United for £12.24 million ($19.7 million).August 2003 – Debuts for the Portuguese national team.
June-July 2004 – Participates for Portugal in the UEFA European Championship, scoring a goal in the opening match of the tournament. This is his first major international tournament.
July 2004 – Plays for Portugal at the Summer Olympics. Portugal is eliminated in the group stage.
2005 – Wins the FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award.
October 2005 – He is investigated for an alleged sexual assault, but is not charged.
June 2006 – Scores his first World Cup goal against Iran. Portugal wins 2-0.
2008 – Wins the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
2009 – Moves to Real Madrid. The transfer fee is 80 million pounds (more than 130 million dollars).
December 2013 – Opens a museum in his hometown of Funchal, Portugal, dedicated to his football career.
January 2014 – Scores his 400th career goal.
January 2014 – He is named a Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry.
October 2015 – Officially becomes Real Madrid’s record goalscorer in a 3-0 win over Levante at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
November 2015 – The documentary film “Ronaldo” is premiered in London.
November 2016 – Signs a “lifetime” advertising contract with Nike.
January 2017 – He is voted the best FIFA player of 2016 for the first time.
June 2017 – Is accused of evading $16.4 million in taxes between 2011 and 2014.
August 2017 – Following his red card in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over rivals Barcelona, Ronaldo is banned for five matches by the Spanish Football Federation. In addition to the one-match ban for the red card, he must sit out four more games for shoving referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea as he left the pitch.
October 2017 – Wins the FIFA Men’s Best Player award for the second year in a row.
December 2017 – Wins his fifth Ballon d’Or, equaling the record of his eternal rival Lionel Messi.
July 2018 – Leaves Real Madrid to join reigning Serie A champions Juventus Torino, Italy, on a four-year contract and $117 million transfer fee.
September 2018 – Kathryn Mayorga files a lawsuit in Clark County, Nevada, accusing Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. She is seeking to void a settlement and nondisclosure agreement she allegedly was coerced into signing by Ronaldo and his legal team. Ronaldo denies the allegations.
January 2019 – Las Vegas police spokeswoman Officer Laura Meltzer confirms that as part of the investigation into the rape allegations against Ronaldo, she sent a warrant to authorities in Italy to request a DNA sample from him.
January 2019 – Ronaldo reaches a settlement with Spanish authorities in his tax fraud case, paying a $21.6 million fine and accepting a 23-month suspended prison sentence. Under Spanish law, first-time offenders can avoid gaol time if the sentence is less than two years.April 2019 – Juventus defeats Fiorentina 2-1 to become Italian Serie A champions. Ronaldo becomes the first player to win titles in the Premier League (with Manchester United), La Liga (with Real Madrid) and Serie A (with Juventus).
April 2019 – Juventus defeats Fiorentina 2-1 to win the Italian Serie A championship. Ronaldo becomes the first player to win titles in the Premier League (with Manchester United), La Liga (with Real Madrid) and Serie A (with Juventus).
May 2019 – The lawsuit filed in Clark County, Nevada, accusing Ronaldo of rape is voluntarily dismissed by Mayorga. Larissa Drohobyczer, Mayorga’s attorney, tells CNN, “The lawsuit was dismissed by us because we filed the identical claims in federal court due to the federal court rules for service on aliens, we basically just changed venue, but the claims remain.”
July 2019 – The Clark County District Attorney’s Office says Ronaldo will not be charged with sexual assault in Las Vegas. The office says the allegations, first made in 2009, cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
August 2019 – Federal court documents show Ronaldo paid Mayorga $375,000 under a settlement and confidentiality agreement after Mayorga’s 2009 rape allegation. Mayorga is asking the court to declare the agreement invalid because Ronaldo and his legal team took advantage of her weak emotional state to force her to sign it.
September 2020 – Scores his 100th international goal in Portugal’s Nations League match against Sweden, becoming only the second man in history to reach the milestone.
October 2020 – Tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Portuguese Football Federation.
August 2021 – Manchester United confirm the signing of Ronaldo for the second time, completing his transfer from Juventus Torino.
September 2021 – Sets men’s international scoring record with two goals against Ireland in World Cup Group A qualifier in Almancil, Portugal.
October 2021 – A federal judge recommends that the rape case against Ronaldo be dropped because Mayorga’s lawyers unlawfully obtained and used information from leaked documents. On June 10, 2022, the case is dismissed. In 2023, Ronaldo recovers over $300,000 in legal fees spent on his defence. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey ruled that the attorney representing Mayorga, Leslie Stovall, must pay Ronaldo. The court found that Stovall owed the money after the lawyer damaged the footballer by giving “malicious legal advice”
March 2022 – Ronaldo scores his 806th career goal against Tottenham, breaking the FIFA record for most goals in competitive matches in the history of men’s football.
April 2022 – Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodriguez announce that one of their newborn twins, a boy, has died.
November 2022 – Manchester United announce that Ronaldo is leaving the English Premier League club with immediate effect. The announcement comes a week after Ronaldo spoke about his frustrations at the club in an explosive interview on TV.
November 2022 – With a goal in Portugal’s opener against Ghana in Qatar, Ronaldo becomes the first male player in history to score in five World Cups.
December 2022 – Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr announces that Ronaldo has joined the team.
